Former supermodel who featured in Chanel’s ad campaigns and played Agent 007 James Bond’s girlfriend, Waris Dirie continues her campaign against girls’ genital mutilation, which she started in 1996. Now the 40-year-old United Nations goodwill ambassador is planning to concentrate on the European region. Her latest book Desert Children, following her bestselling autobiography Desert Flower and its sequel Desert Dawn, tells about unprotected immigrant girls in Europe who are under the threat of genital mutilation.

The book, describing the problem that the European societies refuse to recognize, has already come out in German and is to be published in English later this month.
"This is happening right here," Dirie said in an interview to The Associated Press in her foundation's office in Vienna.

"A girl, born in Berlin, brought up in Berlin, but maimed according to African tradition. That is what reality looks like in Germany. It makes me furious, it makes me sad," the supermodel writes in her new book.

Over 100 million women have been mutilated worldwide and over 2 mln. girls are at risk each year. The procedure is not only painful and harmful, it can cause fatal infections, AIDS, physical, psychological and sexual problems.

Desert Children denies the argument that genital mutilation is a part of culture like ritual dancing, or ethnic food. Dirie states in Desert Children: "We are talking about torture of women. It is criminal violence against small girls."

Dirie, who is the citizen of Austria for already more than a year and was also rewarded by Austria’s Romero Prize from a Roman Catholic men’s movement for her campaign, says she’s proud that she’s involved in this fight and isn’t at all ashamed that she revealed the world truth about herself.