Kisses and caresses on the genitals of boys and/or girls without sexual intentions are attested, according to research carried out to write this Guidebook, in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and the Arab world in general, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Italy, as well as among numerous Roma minority groups (Dauth, Ruggiu 2020). These displays of affection can easily be confused with paedophile gestures and have given rise to several court cases.

The following is a brief description of Italian and comparative case law on the cultural practice of kissing/kissing on the genitals:

Italy

1. (judgment of 21 November 2012) acquits an Albanian father who kissed his son on the genitals as a gesture of paternal pride due to the absence of the subjective element since, although the act was objectively of a sexual nature, the man performed it with a cultural motive (showing pride for having a male child according to an Albanian tradition).
2. (judgement of 19 April 2017) confirms the acquittal, with a different reasoning, i.e. arguing that not only is the subjective element of malice not found, but that the objective element of the offence is even lacking since the kiss was a cuddle given for the purpose of reaffirming the pride of procreation.
3. (Sent. no. 29613 of 29 January 2018,) annuls with reference using these three main arguments: a) the recognition of a cultural exemption meets the insurmountable limit of the inviolable rights of the person. "The right, also inviolable ... not to deny one's cultural, religious and social traditions" (para. 3.4. right) must be balanced against the child's sexual freedom; (b) the latter was violated because the kissing involved an erogenous zone and, according to the Court's case law, this makes the act in itself invasive of the child's sexual sphere, beyond the subjective intentions of the father c) the existence of the cultural practice is not certain since the cultural evidence adduced by the defence - a statement, moreover not authenticated, from the Prefecture of Vlore - does not mention kissing, but only caressing, and in this case we are dealing with real Moreover, the existence of the practice is denied in Albania, since the Albanian penal code (Art. 100 ff.) provides for the crime of sexual abuse.
4. Court of Appeal of Bologna, in its capacity as referring judge, issued a new ruling on 16 May 2019 in which it sentenced the father for the offence under Article 609 quater - sexual acts with a minor - to two years and eight months' imprisonment and to compensation for damages to be paid in civil proceedings.
(For details, Ruggiu 2019a)

GERMANY

Germany
24 May 2020, Regional Court Hamburg acquits a Bulgarian father of Roma origin who had fondled his child's penis in an internet video chat, recognising the lack of sexual intent following the cultural expert report presented by anthropologist Harika Dauth, of the Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Halle (for details, Dauth, Ruggiu 2020).

USA

State of Maine v. Mohammad Kargar, 1996 Maine Superior Court USA convicted an Afghan father of sexual abuse by stripping him of his parental rights, the Maine Supreme Court overturned the decision applying the de minimis non curat lex standard. (USA)(https://law.justia.com/cases/maine/supreme-court/1996/679-a-2d-81-0.html)
 
Krasniqi v. Dallas Cty. Child Protective Service Unit TX, 809 S.W.2d 927 (Tex. App. 1991), which convicted two Albanian parents, Sadri and Sabahete Krasniqi, who had emigrated to Texas, of sexual abuse for fondling their daughter on the vulva.
 
State of Maine v. Michelle Ramirez, 2005 Maine Superior Court acquits Dominican woman by admitting, following anthropological expertise, that the practice of kissing her son on the genitals is a Dominican cultural practice. (https://law.justia.com/cases/maine/superior-court/2005/kencr-04-213.html)
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Switzerland

In 2021, a public prosecutor in the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland) dismissed the case of a mother from the Dominican Republic who had touched her 10-year-old son's penis as a practice of maternal pride. The public prosecutor decided to do so after the police inspector presented studies on the field that proved that in that part of Dominican Republic it was common practice to touch and utter words of praise toward genitals of children up to 10 years old. ​