Attacks by Acid
Foundation of the BurnedAcid attacks occur in any country on the planet. The first known case in the world was that of Ameneh Barami, an Iranian woman who was attacked by her sentimental partner fled to Spain after surviving the burn and from there she filed a criminal lawsuit against her aggressor; which he won and according to the laws of his country, where the law of Talion is applied (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth) that is, she should do the same to her aggressor; The international pressure led her to reflect, and finally did not do more than an act of revenge and more violence.
There is a difference between developed countries and developing countries. In the former, the causes most related to this type of violence are: abuse of alcohol, crime and drugs, marginalized social classes and in ethnic minorities (84%), they already affect women over 40 years of age and men in 67%.
In developing countries it is much more directed against women as a consequence of religious and cultural beliefs, as is the case in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya. In Bangladesh it is one of the most densely populated and poorest countries, about 100 cases are reported a year, with a male-female ratio of 0.37:1 This attack on women is the product of punishment or revenge for unsatisfactory skills for disputes between families. In response, the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) has been created, which fights for its decline, provides legal support and pressures for its health care.
In Colombia, the first case that the Foundation attended was in 1997, it produced a great indignation throughout the work team and the reconstruction process began, which was very difficult due to the severity of the sequelae, at that time it was thought that it was an isolated case, but little by little They were more frequent and in greater number; Colombia was aware of this type of violence when one of the candidates for the National Beauty Contest was allegedly attacked by another of the contestants.
Recognizing that it was no longer an isolated phenomenon, in 2012, the Foundation brought together nine of the acid aggression survivors at its headquarters and listened to its testimony; None forgets the pain he felt, none received the proper treatment and in no case was the attacker even stopped. From that meeting they promised to be the visible face of violence against women in the country, which triggered a series of reactions at the national level both from the media and from all levels of the state. This led to the fact that when Natalia Ponce de León was attacked, not only the entire country reacted but also that there was already experience in the treatment of this type of burn.
The Burn Unit of the Simón Bolívar Hospital prepared, together with the Secretary of Health of Bogotá, the First Responsive Protocol for Emergency Care; Subsequently, together with the Quemado Foundation, the Comprehensive Care Guide for Chemical Burns was prepared, and led by the Ministry of Health, the Rias Health Care Route was prepared for chemical aggression burns.
Although it is true that at first this type of aggression increased because they copied a lot of the way of violating women, the pressure from civil society and the third sector led to decreeing November 25 as the day of non-violence against women, the Natalia law Ponce de León, which, among others, increases penalties up to 40 years by typifying the attack as an attempted homicide, to Decree 2733 of 2012 that aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and offers tax benefit to those who use them and Circular 08 of 2017, Superintendence of Health, which decrees the obligation to provide comprehensive care from urgency to social reintegration of victims due to chemical attack.
