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Facing up to Acid Attacks PRESS RELEASE: February 23, 2012
Saving Face follows the plight of two young women in Pakistan who have had their faces and lives destroyed – they had acid thrown at them with the deliberate intention to wound and stigmatise. The Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) is a UK-based charity that supports a network of partners who provide surgical treatment and rehabilitation to around 1000 survivors every year. They supported co-directors Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Daniel Junge in their quest to tell the story of acid attack survivors, Zakia and Rukhsan.
Acid violence is a largely unreported crime that happens all over the world, is not characterised by creed, continent or culture but is mainly perpetrated against young women and girls. ASTI calculates that there are at least 1,500 reported attacks on innocent victims every year – but many more go unreported.
ASTI has been working for over a decade to help survivors of acid attacks. It established the organisation featured in the film – the Acid Survivors Foundation in Pakistan (acidsurvivorspakistan.org/) and supports four other similar organisations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Uganda and Cambodia. It is the only organisation anywhere in the world whose sole mission is to eliminate acid attacks.
“We have commissioned research into this crime, sent teams of volunteers to help survivors, and brought this crime to the attention of the UN and other international human rights agencies,” explains Dr John Morrison, OBE, founder of ASTI, “and for those inspired by Saving Face, ASTI has designed a programme with the film makers to raise awareness following the film’s release.”
Saving Face will premiere in the UK at the Human Rights Film Festival on 28th and 29th March 2012.
ENDS
Contact: Dr John Morrison, OBE
Telephone: 0207 864 1457
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: http://www.acidviolence.org
NOTES TO EDITOR
If you would like to schedule an interview with the founder of the Acid Survivors Trust International, John Morrison, please call 0207 864
1457 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Please find us on the web at http://www.acidviolence.org or become a member of our Facebook group ‘Acid Survivors Trust International’ at http://www.facebook.com/groups/39870242107/
Posted on February 23rd 2012 by Office in Media coverage
