Bangladesh praised for reducing acid attacks

Summary of story from WENews, 28.01.11.

Bangladesh is singled out from neighbouring India and Cambodia for taking stronger measures to stop acid attacks on women in a report released yesterday.

Researchers found that Bangladesh had taken the most proactive approach to decreasing the attacks by enacting legislation, having a no-bail policy for perpetrators and forming a national council to regulate corrosive solutions and enact a policy of treatment and rehabilitation for victims.

Bangladesh’s women have yet to feel the full benefit of the new laws and policies, however. The density of the population combined with a relative scarcity of police officers hinders investigations and prosecutions.

There were 2,198 reported attacks in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2009 but only 439 convictions, according to the study. However, the attacks have waned, falling steadily from 367 in 2002 to 116 in 2009.

Women have had sulphuric acid sprayed or poured onto their faces, eliminating facial features, causing blindness and fusing skin together, forcing them into a life of health problems and social isolation.