Acid Attacks Continue in Cambodia Despite Harsher Punishments
September 20, 2012
Here, the use of corrosive acid as a weapon to attack and maim is a major problem. The government passed tough new laws targeting acid violence last year, but many survivors are still waiting for justice.
For Som Bunnarith, memories of the day acid violence changed his life forever are as vivid in his mind as the scars on his skin.
“When it splashed on me, it felt hot. It even burned through the wood on the floor. I realized it was acid,” said Bunnarith.
The attacker was his wife, he said, upset with his late nights out. When he came home one morning, she threw the burning liquid on his face.
“My son told me, jump into the river, daddy. I jumped into the river. I was blinking in the water. Then I couldn’t see anything,” said Bunnarith.
That was more than 15 years ago. Today, Bunnarith is a peer counselor at the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, a refuge where people recovering from acid attacks receive care and rehabilitation.
It’s a necessary service. The charity has recorded more than 300 acid attacks in Cambodia, going back to the 1980s. But those are just the ones they know of, said Ziad Samman, the center's project manager.
“The reason why it is so disturbing is because the intention is not to necessarily kill the intended victim, but to leave them marked physically and emotionally for the rest of their life,” said Samman.
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