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Source:
oneinthreewomen.com/feb08newsletter.pdf
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Acid
violence defies any bounds of comprehension. It is a violation born and
nurtured in hell itself, a pitiless, hideous evil. It takes away both skin and
flesh and the very soul of the victim. And it does so with finality that is
often absolute.
As a physician, I saw my first acid violence injury around 10 years ago. I
had set up Rose charities as an extension of my previous organization,
Project Iris. Iris dealt with eye injury and sight restoration but so many
injuries extended beyond the eye to the face and torso. Rose went beyond the
eye to facial and other injuries. Word had gone around that there were
“foreign doctors” helping the injured and had set up a simple operative and
treatment clinic on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
My First Case of Acid Violence Against Women:
My first experience with this heinous manifestation of violence against
women remains seared in my memory. I came in in the morning and she was there
in the waiting area, brought in by a friend. She sat there on the hard wooden
bench. I took her hand. She could not cry, she had no tear ducts since the
skin fused tightly over where here eyes may or may not lie underneath. She
just gazed forward; her skin mottled leather membrane, shrink-wrapped; her
face no longer with any elasticity or ability to display any expression. Her
name is Vanna.
Vanna had been beautiful, and for many poor, oppressed Cambodian women it is
their only possession of value. Before becoming a victim, she had a low
paying job in a restaurant. She had a boyfriend. The story goes: One day
Vanna refused the advances of a much older man, a government official of some
importance. Later that evening two men were waiting for her. They held her
down and slowly poured the acid on her beautiful face. And then they
continued to hold her while it did its work.
That’s the thing. Simply throwing acid in someone’s face might give the
person time to rush to water and prevent much of the damage. But when the
victim is held, the acid will continue working. It can be poured onto
specific areas; the eyes, the genitals, the breasts and there are cases where
large quantities, like a bucket-full, of acid is simply flung at the victim. If
the victim can then get to a source of water very quickly she can limit the
amount of damage – though it may still be severe, irreversibly damaging her
eyes.
It is hard even now, even as a physician who has seen many physical horrors
in a lifetime to think back on Vanna’s face and body. It was as though the
world had brought out a being so alien, so mutated that no one would ever
recognize it.
What We Know About the Problem
Now, some 10 years later I have seen so many victims of acid burn attacks at
our Rose Charities Surgical Rehabilitation or Eye Centers. Although
statistics are scanty and subject to the inaccuracies of translation (Khmer
is a notoriously difficult language to translate into English with the same
exact retention of meaning) it would seem that around 50% of attacks are the
consequence of real or perceived extramarital affairs or other aspects of
life leading to seeking of revenge. This is an extreme and tragic consequence
of men seeking to control women.
And there are more victims. An additional 15% are secondary victims, usually
a child, who have gotten in the way of thrown acid. The rest, not the result
of gender-based violence but rather arise from civil disputes, such as over
land and other property. Cambodia’s history of conflict and succession of
imposed governments has ensured an enormous uncertainty in land ownership,
resulting in claims and counter claims.
Historical Influence
Cambodia’s conflicts of the last 50 years have been extreme and brutal.
Despite attempts to keep neutral, the country became heavily involved in the
Vietnam war, its people first being hit by both sides, before eventually
succumbing to one of the most genocidal regimes of human history, that of the
Khmer Rouge. In this period, some 2 million persons were slaughtered,
tortured, starved, or worked to death. Women were forcibly married to
strangers, forced to watch as their children were taken away or their babies
bayoneted in front of them.
The injury and illness of conflict and post-conflict can be discussed in
three broad categories; primary, secondary, and tertiary. There is ‘primary’
injury that is mostly associated with wars; bullet wounds, blast injuries,
etc. Then there is ‘secondary’ victimization, which is the disease or
untreated trauma caused by the conflict and the induced breakdown of
infrastructure. Third, there is the ‘tertiary’ category, perhaps the most
pernicious, the most long-term, and an injury of the mind where the control
of others is linked with violence, fear, and terror. While sadly, as we know
from global prevalence data, the control and abuse of women is not only
restricted to post-conflict scenarios, however, it may well be one reason why
it remains rife in Cambodia.
The throwing of acid is particularly linked with the second and third
categories above. A very weak and corrupt legal and law enforcement system
means that the control by physical abuse is rarely punished, or prevented.
The direct injuries can be inflicted with almost no fear of being apprehended
by the legal authorities, and in the event that this does occur, it is easy
to buy immunity with an appropriate payment to the right person.
Long-term Consequences and How Rose Charities is Helping
Rose Charities has been dealing with the results of violence against women in
Cambodia since 1998. Over this time the range of acid injury has been very
wide indeed, from a few superficial injuries covering one or two isolated
areas to up to 60% or more of the body covered with deep penetration, even
down to bone. The eyes, ears, and nose may be partially or entirely burned
away.
Acid burns create a spectrum of disabilities for the survivor ranging far
beyond the terrible disfigurement and physical disability. Livelihoods are
ruined; there is social stigmatization, and breakup of families, marriages
and relationships. Full time care is often needed and in a country such as
Cambodia, this care is not provided in any way by the state. If the victims
have no family or friends to look after them then they will be utterly
outcast. So often the attack takes from the victim the only real asset owned
in a quagmire of poverty, her physical beauty, which in many societies is the
only way for a woman to advance. So the damage is also both psychological and
social.
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