Acid Violence
Why it happens
Victims of acid violence are attacked as the result of domestic or land disputes, dowry demands or simply revenge. In many cases it is because a young girl or woman spurned sexual advances or rejected a proposal of marriage. As the mother of an acid survivor in Bangladesh told us, referring to an attack on her daughter by her new husband: “The man to whom we handed over our beloved daughter with the hope that he would nurture her dream, has shattered it instead”.
Of course acid is also used in attacks on children, older women and sometimes men.
Acid is often readily available in countries where, for example, it is used to process cotton and rubber, is a key component of vehicle batteries and even used to etch silver. This availability combined with the limited legal repercussions of attacking someone with acid ,and cultural inequalities that are allowed to exist (eg. status of women), has contributed to increasing incidents of acid violence in many countries.
