Vitriolage or acid throwing is common in the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, China, Ethiopia, and other Asian and African countries. It also exists in the West, though very rarely. 80 percent of victims are women. 40 percent had not even reached the age of 18 years old. This violent and barbaric assault involves the throwing of acid at the victims, almost always at their faces. In the flash of an instant, the acid burns into the skin, melts the flesh instantly, even dissolving the bone. The results are blindness and permanent scarring. Two kinds of corrosive acid are either used: hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid.

The act is also almost always a form of revenge. It is violence against women and a grave gender issue as it attacks the female gender, because and due to gender. Relatively a recent social phenomenon, the first recorded incident happened in 1983 in Bangladesh. In some cases, acid was thrown at a woman’s face when she thwarted sexual advances. In India, it has been practiced in relation to the caste system. There are cases when a wife throws acid at the face of her husband’s other woman. In extreme cases, acid is thrown at a woman who is deemed improperly dressed without the burqa or merely going to school to get an education, as in the recent case in Afghanistan. Bangladesh has been meting death penalty for acid throwing since 2002.

UK-based Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI), founded in 1999, is a concern group that fights the crime of acid violence. It also supports the physically and psychologically scarred victims to survive and rise above the trauma of pain, shame, and disfigurement. The mission of ASTI is to establish indigenous organizations in every country where acid attacks occur more frequently, thereby making it a social trend. ASTI has come up with its latest advertising campaign through public awareness messages. The headline of ‘Don’t let acid attack claim another victim’ is a call to action to end acid violence. The campaign is entitled ‘Scarred.’ The glued double page ads were made by JWT Dubai.

Via COLORIBUS