Combating acid violence against women

Acid violence is the deliberate use of acid to attack another human being. 80% of victims are women.

Many attacks target women because they spurn sexual advances, marriage proposals or question the authority of men within the family or community. Perhaps unsurprisingly acid attacks tend to occur in countries where there is significant gender discrimination and weak controls on the availability of acid.  Acid is a cheap and easily available weapon. It can disfigure in seconds, resulting in devastating physical and psychological trauma. Acid violence is not linked to a particular country, religion or culture. Countries with a high number of attacks often possess a set of common characteristics. These include a weak judiciary and policing systems, poverty, and gender discrimination. Countries with high levels of acid attacks include India, Bangladesh, Colombia, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia and Afghanistan.

Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) aims to eradicate acid violence and help to rebuild the lives of survivors. ASTI receives assistance from the UK government’s Department for International Development and the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.  With this assistance ASTI works with in-country partners in to help survivors, prevent attacks and change laws.

Combating acid violence requires multiple interventions including medical, legal rehabilitation and prevention. For the past fifteen years ASTI Trustee and former BAPS President Mr Ron Hiles has been volunteering his plastic surgery skills to the staff and survivors of the Acid Survivors Foundation in Bangladesh. Mr Hiles has trained a generation of plastic surgeons and we calculate that he alone has treated more than 2,000 patients over the past ten years.

In addition to the medical assistance, ASTI supports its local partners in advocacy work. Laws need to limit the availability of acid, prosecute and punish perpetrators, provide adequate redress to survivors and support their economic and social empowerment. The role of government is pivotal in legislative reform and enforcement of laws. In 2011 and 2012 respectively, the governments of Pakistan and Cambodia introduced specific legislation relating to acid violence.

Cambodia
In Cambodia, on 28 January 2013, Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Be Soeun to five years in prison for intentional violence using acid and ordered him to pay 10 million riel (US$2,500), after he threw battery acid on the face, chest and back of his ex-wife when she told him she planned to remarry. Be Soeun was the first person prosecuted under Cambodia's acid control law.

Pakistan
In Pakistan, the government introduced a minimum sentence of 14 years in jail and a fine of one million rupees ($10,000) for those found guilty of throwing acid. The conviction rate rose from an average of six percent before the amendment to 18 percent in 2012.

These are extremely encouraging signs that real progress is being made to combat acid violence in Pakistan and Cambodia, even if immense challenges remain in the implementation of law.

India
In India, there is public and media outcry over the high levels of violence against women. This has prompted the National government to take action. Arising out of directives from the Supreme Court, National Commission for Women, and Law Commission of India, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2012 was introduced to the Indian Parliament in October 2012 to provide harsher penalties for perpetrators of sexual assaults and acid violence. This has been very recently superseded by Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2013.

Promisingly, some states, notably Uttar Pradesh and Goa, have taken the lead to issue local instructions regarding payment of compensation to survivors and their families.

Bangladesh
Bangladesh was the first country to adopt specific laws criminalising acid violence and limiting the accessibility of acid through the introduction of licenses. Since the law was introduced, reported acid attacks over a 10 year period have dropped from 496 in 2002 to 80 as of October 2012; a reduction of almost 75 percent over a 10 year period. This must serve as an inspiration for a global effort to eradicate this horrific form of gender-based violence.

Significant progress has been made in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Cambodia in particular but much work still remains

Jaf Shah, Executive Director, Acid Survivors Trust International