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http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2666597.htm

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.

Bangladeshi women scarred by acid attacks are refusing to withdraw from society.

Fozila was attacked because she refused a marriage proposal. Hasina was set upon after an argument over a bucket of water. Two women in the seething Bangladesh capital Dhaka whose lives changed in a blinding flash. They were attacked with acid.

Last year in Bangladesh there were 179 recorded cases of acid attacks. Hydrochloric and nitric acid are cheap and readily available - used by the gallon in the grimy jewellery workshops in the backstreets of the city. In the wrong hands though, it can be devastating. Eating quickly through skin and bone and doing irreparable damage. The victims are targeted usually over land disputes or spurned advances.

And while women are the main targets of a despicable crime, children – even babies – are also often in the line of fire, attacked for being born female or boys splashed with acid because of petty inter-family jealousy.

Bangladesh is trying to prevent and address acid attacks. Police have been told to crack down on the acid throwers, and the death penalty has been introduced. The message is that these attacks should no longer be considered just family business.

‘Our face is our identity. When it is changed our whole identity is changed.
Women and girls are so cheap in this society, so men can destroy them’. Monira Rahman, Acid Survivors Foundation

In a society that shuns people with disabilities it would appear impossible for some of these women to survive let alone prosper but some do through remarkable strength and determination. They have landed good jobs and now can afford to live independently in the city, building a new life they may have only dreamed of in their villages.

They’re sustained by a new self belief, drawing courage and confidence from an inner beauty.

‘Beautiful is what’s inside, what’s there in your heart. My heart is beautiful. I can feel that.’ Hasina Akter, Acid Survivor