Stuff.co.nz
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Supermodel and former "Bond Girl" Waris Dirie is bringing global
attention to claims a growing number of girls and young women living in
New Zealand immigrant communities are at risk of genital mutilation.
FACE OF PROTEST: Waris Dirie. |
The Sunday Star-Times last week revealed a United Nations study that said members of the migrant community were increasingly likely to undergo female circumcision.
The coverage concerned Somalia-born Dirie, a female genital mutilation victim who is the face of an international campaign to end the practice.
Dirie – who endured the procedure as a 5-year-old – has posted a copy of the story on her Facebook page and on the homepage of her foundation, which is trying to end mutilation.
"Friends read the article from New Zealand," she wrote on the page.
The practice – which involves the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons – is banned in New Zealand. Any person who carries out the procedure, or orders it on a dependant, can be jailed for seven years.
"Female genital mutilation concerns us all. It is a crime that is being committed in many countries," she said.
"With my worldwide campaign I want to raise awareness of this cruel practice. I want to contribute all I can to make it possible to finally eradicate it worldwide."
In 1996 the UN appointed Dirie a special ambassador for the practice's elimination.
She has travelled the world for the UN, participated in numerous conferences on the subject, met national leaders and international stars, and generated donations for the ongoing campaign.
Dirie's life story is the subject of the international best-seller Desert Flower, telling of how she fled Somalia aged 13 after she was forced to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather.
She escaped to London and found work as a housemaid. At 18 she was discovered by leading British fashion photographer Terence Donovan, and quickly became an international celebrity.
The UN's latest report said: "The practice is prevalent in 28 countries in Africa and in some countries in Asia and the Middle East.
"In addition, a growing number of women and girls among immigrant communities have been subjected to, or are at risk of, female genital mutilation in Australia and New Zealand."
New Zealand law makes it illegal to send or arrange for a child to be sent out of the country to have the practice performed.
It is also illegal to encourage anyone in New Zealand to perform it on a citizen or resident outside of the country, or to encourage any other New Zealand citizen or resident to leave the country to have it. The law was passed in 1996 but there has never been a prosecution.
The UN has previously reported that about 8000 girls and young women suffer the procedure every day around the world.