Bristol – Generation Change https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange Whether they are campaigning for free press in Zimbabwe, helping provide clean water in India, or offering free music lessons to underprivileged kids in the UK, young people all over the world are making a difference. Wed, 16 Nov 2016 16:49:27 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 Somali activist campaigns against female genital mutilation https://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/2014/07/somali-activist-campaigns-against-female-genital-mutilation/ Wed, 02 Jul 2014 06:12:58 +0000 http://blogs.dw.com/generationchange/?p=5243 The UN has called it a human rights violation; but the practice of cutting the sex organs of young girls and women, also known as female genital mutilation – or FGM – is still practiced on girls around the world. Until recently, governments have been unwilling to engage with the issue because it is deeply rooted in the culture that practice it. However, more and more women are speaking out about the practice in a bid to stop it for good.

One of them is Muna Hassan, a young Somali woman born in Sweden and raised in Britain. Despite extreme opposition to her cause, she is campaigning against the practice of FGM.

Listen to the report by Lyndsey Melling in Bristol:

Muna's family is Somali but she was born in Sweden and moved to the UK when she was 9 years old, where she grew up in a diverse community in Bristol (Photo: Lyndsey Melling).

Muna’s family is Somali but she was born in Sweden and moved to the UK when she was 9 years old, where she grew up in a diverse community in Bristol (Photo: Lyndsey Melling). 

Muna's teacher Lisa Zimmerman encouraged Muna and three of her friends to enagage with with the issue of female genital mutilation.

Muna’s teacher Lisa Zimmerman encouraged Muna and three of her friends to enagage with with the issue of female genital mutilation (Photo: Lyndsey Melling).

Together with friends, Muna founded the charity "Integrate Bristol" to raise awareness about the issue of female genital mutilation (Photo: Lyndsey Melling).

Together with friends, Muna founded the charity “Integrate Bristol” to raise awareness about the issue of female genital mutilation (Photo: Lyndsey Melling).

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