translated from Spanish: The model Waris Dirie on FGM: “Do not see it as a crime”

the somali model Waris Dirie (54), used his fame to campaign against female circumcision. Dirie underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) when he was five years old and his sister bled to death during the procedure. FGM, which causes severe pain in young girls and causes health problems in the long run if they survive, is internationally recognized as extreme a violation of human rights, which constitute discrimination against women.

Waris Dirie at the age of 13, the model fled through an arranged marriage and finally arrived in London, and now, with his work, seeks to make visible this problem.
“The world does turn a blind eye to a crime against the girl child” “is the hardest work I’ve done in my life. “” But I have to do it because there is no one more than you have that commitment, and I will take this to the end “, said in an interview.” Female genital mutilation (FGM) continues to occur because the world does turn a blind eye to a crime against the girl child”, he told Reuters. His autobiography “Desert Flower” became a movie and now is a musical by Gil Mehmert and Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, to be released in the Swiss city of St. Gallen in February 2020.

Dirie said it was shocking and surprising to see his history of life led to the stage, but that even so the message has not yet reached. “The world not interested, don’t care a shit,” he said. The World Health Organization said that currently more than 200 million women live have survived FGM, mainly in 30 countries in Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Original source in Spanish