Transcript Slide 1

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ACID BURNING ATTACKS –
VICTIMIZATION, SURVIVORS, SUPPORT
United Nations Human Rights Council
September 16, 2010
Geneva, Switzerland
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ACID ATTACKS ON WOMEN & GIRLS - A LIVING DEATH OF PAIN & SUFFERING
Acid violence drastically changes the life of the victim including education,
employment and other aspects of normal life. Survivors often have to face social
isolation that further damages their self-esteem and confidence and undermines their
professional and personal future.
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ACID ATTACKS - HORRIFIC VIOLENCE - LIFELONG SUFFERING - BANGLADESH +
Acid-burning is one of the most alarming and horrific forms of violence especially
targeted at women. It has a devastating effect on the victims. It inflicts lifelong
suffering on them. Even a small amount of acid, sulphuric or nitric, melts the skin
tissues, often with the bones underneath exposed or dissolved. Other effects
include: permanent disfigurement, scars on the face and body, and narrowing of the
persons nostrils, eyelids and ears. In most cases, vital organs of the survivors,
especially the eyes, are permanently damaged.
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AFGHANISTAN - SELF-IMMOLATION & VICTIMIZATION - WOMEN & GIRLS
Raheila, 20, burnt herself in Herat
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CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
CEDAW - GENERAL RECOMMENDATION NO. 19 - VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Articles 2(f), 5 and 10(c)
11. Traditional attitudes by which women are regarded as subordinate to men or as
having stereotyped roles perpetuate widespread practices involving violence or
coercion, such as family violence and abuse, forced marriage, dowry deaths, acid
attacks and female circumcision. Such prejudices and practices may justify genderbased violence as a form of protection or control of women. The effect of such
violence on the physical and mental integrity of women is to deprive them the equal
enjoyment, exercise and knowledge of human rights and fundamental freedoms. While
this comment addresses mainly actual or threatened violence the underlying
consequences of these forms of gender-based violence help to maintain women in
subordinate roles and contribute to the low level of political participation and to their
lower level of education, skills and work opportunities.
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Distr.
GENERAL
A/RES/48/104
23 February 1994
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993
The General Assembly,
Recognizing the urgent need for the universal application to women of the rights and principles with regard to
equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human beings,
Noting that those rights and principles are enshrined in international instruments, including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, 1/ the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 2/ the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 2/ the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women 3/ and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, 4/
Recognizing that effective implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women would contribute to the elimination of violence against women and that the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, set forth in the present resolution, will strengthen
and complement that process,
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AFGHANISTAN - ACID ATTACKS KEEP GIRLS AWAY FROM SCHOOL CLASSES
The Associated Press - November 14, 2008
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- No students showed up at Mirwais Mena girls'
school in the Taliban's spiritual birthplace the morning after it happened.
A day earlier, men on motorcycles attacked 15 girls and teachers with acid.
The men squirted the acid from water bottles onto three groups of students and
teachers walking to school Wednesday, principal Mehmood Qaderi said. Some of the
girls have burns only on their school uniforms but others will have scars on their faces.
One teenager still cannot open her eyes after being hit in the face with acid.
''Today the school is open, but there are no girls,'' Qaderi said Thursday. ''Yesterday, all
of the classes were full.'' His school has 1,500 students.
Afghanistan's government condemned the attack as ''un-Islamic'' and blamed it on the
''country's enemies,'' a typical reference to Taliban militants. Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a
Taliban spokesman, denied the insurgents were involved.
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AFGHANISTAN - SCHOOLGIRL VICTIM OF ACID ATTACK
Shamsia, an Afghan school girl, recovers in a hospital after two men on a motorbike
threw acid on her in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Nov 12, 2008. Two men on a motorbike
threw acid on six Afghan girls walking to school in Kandahar on Wednesday,
hospitalizing two of the girls with serious burns, said Dr. Sharifa Siddiqi.
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UN STUDY ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF AND THE STATUS OF
WOMEN FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF RELIGION AND TRADITIONS
D. Violations of the Right to Life
3. Honour Killings
157. Crimes of honour are also part of the mandate of the Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial or arbitrary executions. According
to the Special Rapporteur, honour crimes, rightly classed as
extrajudicial executions, take many forms. It seems that, in some
instances, women are driven to commit suicide following public
denunciations and threats to their lives owing to their allegedly
immoral behavious. OTHERS ARE DISFIGURED BY ACID. In
most cases, the victims are apparently killed by, or at the behest
of, their own families and the perpetrators are rarely arrested or
receive only token punishments.
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ACID ATTACK ON WOMAN SHOCKS ETHIOPIA
Kamilat Mehdi, 21, had a bright
future ahead of her. She dreamt
about doing a degree and becoming
an air hostess.
All that changed one night when she was walking home from work with her
two sisters and a stalker threw sulphuric acid in her face.
She is now lying in hospital disfigured beyond recognition.
Her skin is red raw, her eyelids have almost been entirely destroyed and her
hairline has been burnt back.
"I feel very sick now. Every day they need to do something without anaesthetic
so it is hard to accept and it is very painful," says Kamilat.
Her sisters, Zeyneba and Zubyeda, escaped with lesser injuries but their faces
were also burnt by the acid.
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CAMBODIA: STRICT PENALTIES PLANNED FOR ACID ATTACKS
PHNOM PENH, 28 April 2010 (IRIN)
- Keo Srey Vy’s brother-in-law had
been planning to sell his child so he
could buy a new motorbike. When she
threatened to tell the police, he went to
the restaurant where she worked as a
cook and doused her face with acid.
She reported the attack to police, but
gave up after they demanded a bribe to
investigate.
“I didn’t consider revenge, but I wanted a law that would catch him and bring
him to justice, and that law did not exist,” Keo Srey Vy, who is severely
scarred, told IRIN. A year after the attack, she may have reason for hope.
While countries such as Bangladesh and India have enacted severe laws and
banned the open sale of chemicals, Cambodia had not taken any serious steps
to curb the crime.
Under a new draft law on the use and management of acid, perpetrators of acid
attacks would receive life sentences, the government said. Attacks resulting in
minor injuries would come with a minimum five-year sentence.
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PAKISTAN - ACID ATTACKS AGAINST WOMEN & GIRLS
On January 26, 2010, a bill regarding Acid Violence, which would specifically target those crimes by stating
higher punishments for the attackers and by regulating the sale and purchase of acid, has been submitted to the
National Assembly of Pakistan. But this only marks the beginning of a long legislative process, and it will require
some time before the law is successfully adopted and effectively enforced. It will also require a strong political
will which, until now, have proven inadequate, if not, inexistent. Indeed, in most of those cases, the judicial
institutions have not taken stern sanctions against the perpetrators, which have often been able to act and walk
away in total impunity. Nor has adequate compensation and support been granted to the victims.
Irum Saeed, 30, poses for a photograph
at her office at the Urdu University of
Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, July 24,
2008.
Irum was burned on her face, back and
shoulders twelve years ago when a boy
whom she rejected for marriage threw
acid on her in the middle of the street.
She has undergone plastic surgery 25
times to try to recover from her scars.
Shameem Akhter, 18, poses for a
photograph at her home in Jhang,
Pakistan, Wednesday, July 10, 2008.
Shameem was raped by three boys who
then threw acid on her three years ago.
Shameem has undergone plastic surgery
10 times to try to recover from her scars.
Shehnaz Usman, 36, poses for a
photograph in Lahore, Pakistan,
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
Shehnaz was burned with acid by a
relative due to a familial dispute
five years ago.
Shehnaz has undergone plastic
surgery 10 times to try to recover
from her scars.
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PAKISTAN - ACID ATTACKS
Najaf Sultana, 16,
poses for a photograph
at her home in Lahore,
Pakistan on
Wednesday, July 9,
2008.
Shahnaz Bibi, 35,
poses for a photograph
in Lahore, Pakistan,
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
Memuna Khan, 21,
poses for a photograph
in Karachi, Pakistan,
Friday, Dec. 19, 2008.
Zainab Bibi, 17,
adjusts her veil as she
poses for a photograph
in Islamabad, Pakistan,
Wednesday, Dec. 24,
2008
Kanwal Kayum, 26,
adjusts her veil as she
poses for a photograph
in Lahore, Pakistan,
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
Naila Farhat, 19,
poses for a photograph
in Islamabad, Pakistan,
Wednesday, Dec. 24,
2008.
Munira Asef, 23,
poses for a photograph
in Lahore, Pakistan,
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008.
Saira Liaqat, 26,
poses for the camera at
her home in Lahore,
Pakistan, Wednesday,
July 9, 2008.
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ITALY - MOROCCAN YOUNG WOMAN ASSAULTED WITH ACID
Turin, 27 August(AKI) - A 19-year-old Moroccan woman suffered second and
third degree burns over 20 percent over her body following an late Thursday in
the northern industrial city of Turin when attackers threw acid over her.
According to a police official, at around 9:00 pm Hasna Beniliha was
approached from behind by a man who poured the contents of a bottle on her
before escaping on foot.
Another three people who were standing near the victim were treated for burns
from drops of the acid and released early from hospital.
The police official said investigators are working on the hypothesis of that the
attack was a crime of passion.
Moroccans are among Italy's largest immigrant communities.
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INDIA - ACID ATTACKS ON WOMEN PROMPT PROTESTS
Haseena Hussain was
attacked by her former boss
when she did not accept his
marriage proposal.
Women from CSAAAW, including this acid-attack survivor named Jayalakshmi, gathered on the
steps of city hall in Bangalore, India, Aug. 12, to call for better prevention and prosecution of
acid violence.
Day to Day, August 22, 2007 · Haseena Hussain was an attractive, upwardly mobile woman in
Bangalore, India, with everything going for her. But it all changed in 1999, when she turned
down her former boss' marriage proposal and he sought revenge by pouring two liters of
concentrated hydrochloric acid over her body.
Hussain now works with the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women
(CSAAAW) to fight the surge of acid violence against women. Since 1999, the group has
documented 61 such attacks. In the most recent case, a 22-year-old mother of four children was
doused with acid and forced to drink a deadly concoction of a corrosive chemical and alcohol by
her abusive husband in the city of Mysore.
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UK - ACID ATTACK VICTIM - BEFORE & AFTER
Photo of Katie Piper after Acid Attack is
being searched on internet. This attack was
done by her revengeful boyfriend Daniel
Lynch on May 31, 2008.
Former model and television presenter Katie
Piper boldly steps out in public after acid
attack. She recovers her life after having
sulfuric acid thrown on her face. She told the
horrific story of how she was raped in front
of cameras.
On 31st May, 2008, Katie Piper was attacked
by her revengeful boyfriend Daniel Lynch
with a cup of industrial sulphuric acid.
On that day outside of cafe bar in north London, 24 year old Katie Piper was lost in her thoughts
when she could barely notice a man approaching her with the realization of a cup of coffee in
one of his hands. After that, the young boy threw the liquid on Katie face, first Katie thought that
it was hot coffee, but the pain and agony she felt, suggested something else; it wasn’t coffee
rather highly dangerous element known as Sulfuric Acid. This whole incident is captured by
security cameras, when the stranger threw acid on her face, and the police know who did it.
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AFGHANISTAN - SELF-IMMOLATION OF AFGHAN WOMEN & GIRLS
RAWA - http://www.rawa.org/self_immolation/index.htm
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USA WOMAN VICTIM OF ACID ATTACK RECOUNTS AGONIZING PAIN
Associated Press - 2010-09-03
Bethany Storro had just bought a pair of sunglasses and was celebrating a new job when a
woman walked up to her with a cup and said: "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?"
The woman then splashed acid in the cup on Storro, who stumbled in pain and fell to the ground
screaming. She felt agonizing pain as the skin on her face bubbled and sizzled and portions of
her blouse disintegrated.
"It was the most painful thing ever," Storro, 28, said Thursday. "My heart stopped. It ripped
through my clothing the instant it touched my shirt; I could feel it burning through my second
layer of skin."
Police are seeking the woman in the Monday attack as Storro, with her head wrapped in white
bandages, recounted Thursday how only days before, she had been celebrating a new job and a
recent move to Vancouver, Washington, from Idaho. The reports were carried by The Oregonian
newspaper and KGW-TV.
But she insisted that she would not let the attack in Vancouver wreck her life, and laughingly
marveled how her eyesight was spared just minutes after she bought those sunglasses.
Storro said she had spinal meningitis twice as a child, which robbed her of most of her hearing.
"Oh my gosh, to be hard of hearing and blind? That would drive them nuts," she said, laughing
and pointing at her parents, Joe and Nancy Neuwelt. "They have to be in the same room for me
to hear them. I'm just so glad it's a miracle."
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ADVOCACY AGAINST ACID ATTACKS:
*Statistics
*Restrictions on Acid
*Prevention Programs
*Efforts Against Inequality
*Core Issues on Violence Against Women
*Services & Support for Acid Victims
*Media Coverage on Acid Attacks Including Self-Immolation
*Medical Care & Funds
*International Law & Lobbying
*Domestic Laws & Enforcement
*Enforcement of Prosecution - Ending Impunity
*Networking - Local, National, Regional, International, UN
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ASEAN - ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
DECLARATION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Member Countries
Brunei Darussalam
Myanmar
Cambodia
Philippines
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
VietNam
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the ASEAN Region
In the context of strengthening regional cooperation, collaboration and coordination for the purpose of
eliminating violence against women in the region, each Member Country, either individually or
collectively, in ASEAN shall endeavour to fully implement the goals and commitments made related
to eliminating violence against women and monitor their progress as follows:
1. To encourage greater regional and bilateral cooperation in the systematic research, collection,
analysis and dissemination of data, including disaggregated by sex, age, and other relevant
information, on the extent, nature and consequences of violence against women and girls, and on the
impact and effectiveness of policies and programmes for combating violence against women;
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VIET NAM ACID ATTACK SURVIVOR HELPS OTHER VICTIMS
In 1989 in Ho Chi Minh City, Anne’s boyfriend, jealous and possessive, threw sulfuric
acid on her face and body, leaving her severely disfigured and limited in movement.
After five months in the hospital and more than 50 surgeries in the next decade, Anne
is devoted to helping other acid burn victims and those in need of reconstructive
surgery in developing countries.
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ACID SURVIVORS TRUST INTERNATIONAL - ASTI
Acid Survivors Trust International -ASTI - is a
registered UK charity and works with Acid
Survivors Foundations (ASFs) in Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Uganda, Pakistan and Nepal. ASTI is
the only organization dedicated to addressing this
grave abuse of human rights in an international
context.
Vision
A world that believes in the equality of all people,
and when the limited occurrences of burns
violence do occur that the survivors are supported
and rehabilitated to lead healthy and rewarding
lives.
Purpose/ Mission
ASTI exists to provide a centre of worldwide expertise in identifying, treating and
rehabilitating survivors of acid and burns violence – while helping to prevent, and
ultimately eradicate, acid and burn violence worldwide.
Founder - Dr. John Morrison, OBE - UK
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ACID SURVIVORS FOUNDATION OF BANGLADESH
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BANGLADESH: ACID ATTACKS CONTINUE DESPITE NEW LAWS
DHAKA (IRIN) - Acid attacks against women and girls are
continuing despite legal campaigns to halt their spread.
Over 2,600 cases have been reported since 1999, according
to the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) of Bangladesh.
Almost all the attacks have been on women or girls. Many of
the victims are under 18, says ASF, which has been working
to eliminate acid violence for almost a decade.
The main reason for the violence is dowries, refusal of love
proposals, or land disputes, ASF said. Bent on revenge,
perpetrators throw acid into their victims’ faces in an effort to
severely disfigure them, often with horrifying results.
Nitric or sulphuric acid has a catastrophic effect on human
flesh, ASF said, resulting in skin tissue melting, often
exposing the bones below the flesh, and even dissolving
bone.
Despite the viciousness of these attacks, many go unreported:
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ACID ATTACK VICTIM INSPIRES PAKISTANI LEGISLATION
Nailia Farhat was attacked by a rejected suitor in 2003
Drafted Pakistani legislation has the potential to become the nation’s first law against
domestic violence.
The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act spearheaded by acid attack victim
Naila Farhat and human rights activists, would increase punishment for perpetrators
who throw or spray acid on their victims and would prohibit the sale of acid to those
without licenses.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ACID SURVIVORS
Acid Survivors Foundation of Bangladesh rally in Dhaka, including about 600 acidattack victims from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Uganda and Nepal
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ACID ATTACK VICTIM TESTIMONIAL - POEM
I was a joyful little girl in Bangladesh,
Playing, good in school, happy with family.
The pain and surgeries continued.
My tears only increased the suffering.
When in my late teens, a man wanted me to wed.
My family was interested; I was not.
No one wanted to look at me. I hid.
I felt my life was over, my spirit destroyed.
I continued to resist. He was angry.
He said if he could not have me, no one would
My attacker goes free. I tried to testify. I gave up.
Many others like him, use acid in revenge, anger.
One night, when I was sleeping, he entered the window.
I jumped up when I heard the noise. Then, the horror
began...
Then, a Foundation gave me hope. I met other victims.
I was trained for work. I slowly moved forward.
He sprayed acid in my face, and I screamed in terror.
The pain was excruciating. It was a living death.
My parents rushed me to the hospital.
I stayed for many days, fighting for my life, my sight.
Though I am grotesque, so ugly and disfigured.
I have an inner beauty that I hope can show.
I am a survivor of an acid attack.
A nightmare that changed my life forever.
By LAH - WUNRN
When they gave me a mirror, I was horrified, in shock.
The girl I used to be had become a disfigured monster.