Cambodia – Reclaiming Life After Acid Attacks
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: November 14, 2011
WUNRN
CAMBODIA – RECLAIMING LIFE AFTER
ACID ATTACKS
a other burn survivors,
18 November 2011 – A cook in the Cambodian city Siem
Reap, Chhean was compelled to take action against her sister’s tyrannical
brother-in-law when in 2008 he sold his two-year-old daughter to a trafficking
ring so he could buy a new motorbike. Chhean, a widow and sole provider for her
four children, urged her sister Baen to file a law suit and openly demanded
that her brother-in-law get the two year old back. Instead, her brother-in-law
threatened Chean’s life. That threat turned real one day when he drove by on
his motorbike while Chhean was working and threw acid on her. It burned her
face, eyes, shoulders, left hand and the left side of her back.
Another woman, Ponleu experienced the same form of
violence. At 18 she married an older man who was emotionally and physically
abusive. Ponleu endured his abuse and gave birth to a daughter, before she
gathered the strength to ask for a divorce. The man doused Ponleu with gasoline
and lit her on fire, in front of their three-year-old daughter.
In Cambodia acid attacks and burns violence against women are common
and widespread, yet many survivors of such violence often find themselves in
the dark for adequate legal, medical and psychological support. For Chhean,
medical care at the local hospital was too expensive. Thinking that she would
never be able to work again and support her family, she battled with thoughts
of suicide. Ponleu spent all her savings on medical treatment and, ashamed of
how she looked, stayed indoors at home as much as she could.
Chhean and Ponleu, however, later found support through the Cambodian Acid
Survivors Charity (CASC) — which receives support under the umbrella
organization Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI). A UN Trust Fund to End
Violence against Women grantee, ASTI focuses on combating acid burns violence at the
international level and works with local partners such as CASC to take measures
to prevent acid burns violence and to bring perpetrators to justice.
Ponleu showing her wedding picture. (Photo credit: UN
Women/Phil Borges)
The only organization in Cambodia offering holistic support to survivors of acid burns
violence, CASC runs a commune where survivors can access a range of services
and support from medical treatment and legal assistance to skills training and
peer support. Here, Chhean and Ponleu receive continuing medical care, and
assistance with employment.
Chhean now crochets bags, purses and backpacks, which
CASC helps her sell. Ponleu has become a seamstress and works for CASC as an
assistant pressure garment tailor. She sews hospital scrubs and regularly gets
orders from hospitals around the area. Through CASC, she has also educational
support for her daughter.
At the national level, CASC has contributed to draft legislation to regulate
the sale of acid and to provide harsher criminal sentences to perpetrators.
There is hope that the draft will be signed into law — the first of its kind in
Cambodia — by early 2012. Such legislation will help burn
survivors like Chhean, whose case against her brother-in-law has yet to go to
court for lack of finding witnesses willing to cooperate. Had a law been in
place before her brother-in-law attacked her, Chhean believes it would have
saved her. “I firmly believe that he would have not dared to throw acid on me
because he would have been afraid to be sent to prison,” she says.
Despite the scars, Chhean and Ponleu continue to build
their confidence as survivors and help those around them. Chhean has become a
powerful support to survivors of burn violence, accompanying them to court in
their battles for justice. Although Ponleu’s husband fled after attacking her
and has not been found, she is committed to supporting her family, excelling at
her job and being a role model for other survivors.
A UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women grantee,
The Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) focuses on combating acid burns
violence at the international level. ASTI responds to the needs of women and girls affected by
acid burns violence and implements measures to prevent acid burns violence from
happening in the first place and to bring perpetrators to justice. The project
serves 2,000 women and their communities in Cambodia, Nepal, and Uganda, and works with local partners such as Cambodian Acid
Survivors Charity (CASC) to carry out its objectives. The UN Trust Fund relies
on voluntary contributions and your donation is critical.
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