Children's charity Plan UK has launched a new campaign to help eradicate female genital mutilation, which includes a hard-hitting video symbolising the practice.

The video, which has been viewed over 6000 times since its release on Monday, shows a red rose being cut with a pair of scissors symbolising the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). It was shot by agency Marmalade Film & Media and forms part of Plan UK’s wider social media campaign and its use of the hashtag #fgmrose.

It cost the charity £18,000 to create the video, which was produced to raise awareness of FGM as a human rights violation.

The video directs people with concerns about FGM to contact child abuse charity NSPCC.

Following research that showed that 125 million girls and women across the world are living with the consequences of being cut, Plan UK are targeting FGM as part of its flagship ‘Because I’m a Girl’ campaign.

Plan UK’s chief executive, Tanya Barron, said: “FGM is a human rights violation facing millions of girls and young women across the world,” says Plan UK CEO, Tanya Barron.

“We believe FGM is a global problem that requires a co-ordinated global solution.

“Because the beliefs and traditions that are used to justify FGM cross borders, we won’t end FGM in the UK without ending it abroad.”

Plan says its projects in Africa and Asia have shown that having knowledge of the harmful impact of FGM, as well as an understanding of how it is linked to discrimination against women and girls, can help eradicate it.

The ‘Because I’m a Girl’ campaign, run by Plan International and its regional charities, has reached 58 million girls worldwide to date, including work to eradicate FGM and child marriage.

FGM is illegal in the UK and in many other countries, however because of a “number of complex cultural and social reasons”, including a belief that it protects chastity, it is still practiced worldwide.