August 12 is Thailand's Mother's Day. To contribute this edition to the mothers all over the world, I'd like to remind you of some less-fortunate women in another country. They are unlucky because they are women!
The story might be irritating for some of you, so if you do not want to read about something sad, please do not continue.
You might have already heard about them from the news... the "Acid Victims" of Bangladesh.
Note: Though this is our 'culture shock' edition, I am not saying that it is a "culture" of Bangladeshis to throw acid to women. Please understand this is an act of some ruthless criminals who happen to live in Bangladesh.
In 1998, a man crept into Minara Khatun's bamboo hut in the middle of the night, poured concentrated sulfuric acid on her face and walked away as she woke screaming -- all because she refused to sleep with him.
This was not the first acid-throwing case. Nearly 200 women in Bangladesh are acid victims every year, and the number is rising.
Roksana Begum, 15, was propositioned by her cousin and, did not respond, so he threw acid. Chan Miah, 21, emptied a container of acid on 13-year-old Sonia and her two younger brothers as they sat watching television at home, to punish her for complaining to her parents about his excessive attentions. Sonia lost her sight. Shoma, 14, did not want to marry Romel, so he and two friends accosted her on the street and flung acid on her. Then there's Taslima, whos husband Mustafa, not satisfied with the cash and gold jewelry she brought in dowry, demanded a goat. When his father-in-law said he could not afford anything else, Mustafa poured acid on his wife's genitals.
Most of the time, the perpetrators are men who had failed to attract the women of their desire, and feel that they will lose their faces if somebody else takes the girls. (If I can't have her, no-one will). It's an act of revenge with unimaginable sadism. I cannot find out who initiated this.
They did it for a long time, but somehow the incident rose about seven years ago, as a reaction to women's advancing economic and social status, which led to a chance to reject marriage proposals in a society where women were traditionally passed from father to husband as serfs. When some started it, a number of men felt it funny, and followed suits. The targets are the women's faces and genital areas.
Scroll up and read about the victims again. They were 14-15 years old when attacked! They men wanted to marry them at such a young age. From the latest news, the girl was only 12! Can't imagine how living in such a place feels like for a woman.
You don't want to marry someone, but decided to because he and some friends will throw acid on you. Think of an acid-victim, her face and body is disfigured, she probably lost her sight, and plastic surgery is almost impossible. All these at 14-15 years old. How is her life going to be in the future? Does she have to spend all her life in a shelter or an acid-victim centre?
And how about other girls? How can they sleep during the night? How can they go out in the street, fearing that one day a faceless criminal will appear from nowhere and throw something on her.
Reportedly, Bangladeshi government failed to protect their women. Though they hav considered a death penalty against acid throwers, same as rape victims, acid victims will be pressured an destroyed by defense lawyers. They make these victims look as bad as possible so that the act of their clients will be considered emotional. Oh when a person goes get friends (normally it's the man and a few friends -- they are even too coward to do it alone), buy a full container of acid, and carry it until the girl's house to throw it on her... Sounds like a pre-determined crime for me.
And why is it easy to buy a container of concentrated acid on the street? Should it be a controlled chemical? Oh well... they can still get the acid from a car battery. Probably Bangladeshi Government should not allow girls to marry at such a young age as well?
Reports on Acid Attacks
http://www.banglacenter.com/reports/acid_attack.pdf
More:
As I was searching, I found these in other countries such as Pakistan and Brazil too. But there is no places the attack rate is so high as Bangladesh that it raised International concerns.
What I write today is mostly from an old database. However, the crime is still there. This is one of few nations with more men than women. GDP per capita only $1503 (2000). And they always got heavy flooded in the monsoon season (right now). There are Private NPO and International Organizations who lend hands to these victims. If you'd like to help, here are the web sites...
Acid Survivors Foundation
UNICEF
According to WHO... (warning... This site is with pictures... be prepared),
"The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as: "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life".
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