Model backs film campaign against female circumcision

Waris Dirie is supporting the project together with the Metropolitan Police to highlight the potentially fatal practice of female genital mutilation.

This illegal procedure is often carried out during the summer months because girls are off school and there is time to recover.

Girls are rarely given anaesthetic and frequently suffer long-term damage and pain.

Dirie, a victim herself, said: “Female genital mutilation targets little girls, baby girls – fragile angels who are helpless, who cannot fight back.

“So it’s a crime against a child, a crime against humanity. It’s abuse. It’s absolutely criminal and we have to stop it.”

Known as “cutting” among the communities where it is traditionally carried out for cultural reasons, the procedure is thought to be needed as proof of a girl’s “purity” for when she marries.

Research suggests that every year up to 6,000 girls in London are at risk of the procedure, and more than 22,000 in the UK as a whole.

The film, Cut – Some Wounds Never Heal, has been produced by schoolgirls in London and will be available as a free download to all schools in the UK.

Det Sgt Vicky Washington, from the Metropolitan Police, said: “This is a hidden problem that affects thousands of children and young women in the UK.

“There are no legitimate cultural or religious reasons for female genital mutilation – it’s child abuse.”

People who carry out or arrange female genital mutilation in the UK or abroad face up to 14 years in prison.