Gallery of Prominent Refugees

Waris Dirie

A fotomodel, fashion model, public figure, writer, honorable ambassador of UN and an ardent campaigner for the rights of women in Africa

She was born as a nomad girl in the desert of Somalia. As a very young child she was genitally mutilated. Facing at the age of 12 her father's imposition to marry a 60-year-old man who she didn't know, she broke all the rules and ran away.Since 2005 Waris Dirie has been the citizen of Austria. Her striking refined style and beauty lead her to a career in modelling. After a successful career as a supermodel she took the chance to raise the voice, to let the world know what happened to her and still happens to millions of innocent girls and women in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and in immigrant communities in Europe, North America and Australia. Her activism for the rights of women has been honored by world figures, including Nicolas Sarkozy and Mikhail Gorbachev. Meanwhile, her bestselling memoir, Desert Flower, which is already a major motion picture which stirred and impressed the public. Dessert Flower is a Goodwill Embassador of the United Nations and campaigns tirelessly to educate on and oppose Female Genital Mutilation.

Resources:

http://english.cntv.cn/program/newshour/20110905/108542.shtml,

http://www.keringfoundation.org/waris-dirie-and-linda-weil-curiel-two-human-rights-activits-fighting-female-genitale-mutilation_en428.html,

http://look.tm/content/blog/somaliiskaya-kochevnitsa-varis-dirie-zvezda-podiumov-i-predstavitel-oon,

http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/2013/01/02/succesful-screenings-of-desert-flower-at-unhcr-refugee-fimfestival-in-nepal/,

http://unhcr-cyprus.blogspot.com/2009/02/desert-flower-by-waris-dirie-virago.html.