UN calls for ban on female genital mutilation

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Florian Seefried / Getty ImagesModel and writer Waris Dirie, shown in 2010, is an advocate against female genital mutilation.By Baluch Ben-Chorin, NBC NewsIn 1970, when Waris Dirie was a 5-year-old in Somalia, her mother held her down on a rock. She gave her a piece of root from an old tree.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld  "Bite on this," she said. Her mother leaned over and whispered: "Try to be a good girl. Be brave for Mama, and it will go fast." Then, an old woman who was with them in the African bush cut off parts of her genitals with a broken razor blade.

With this graphic description, in her 1997 book "Desert Flower" an international bestseller, Dirie became one of the leading activists in a global campaign against female genital mutilation, or FGM — a practice that millions of girls are subjected to each year.




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