Niane stopped modeling in 1994 to focus on activism. She had been an outspoken activist against female circumcision, a rite performed in some African nations. Following her success as a model, she started the organization KPLCE - Katoucha pour la lutte contre l’excision (English: Katoucha for the battle against female circumcision). Niane herself was circumcised at the age of nine. In 2007, she published a book about her personal circumcision experience, Dans ma chair (Eng: In My Flesh), in France.
