Acid attacks in Bangladesh fall for a fifth year
DHAKA (AFP) — The number of acid attacks in Bangladesh fell to an eight-year low last year, a sign that tough laws and a massive prevention drive is bearing fruit, a campaign group said Sunday.
Such attacks used to be common in Bangladesh, with people embroiled in property disputes or spurned male suitors disfiguring their victims -- mostly women.
But annual figures compiled by the Acid Survivors' Foundation (ASF) showed attacks dropped from 221 in 2006 to 187 in 2007, the fifth consecutive year of decline.
"Some 57 per cent of the attacks were targeted against women and 18 per cent children," said Monira Rahman, executive director of the ASF.
The group attributed the decline to a massive prevention campaign it has been leading with other local non-government organisations (NGOs), plus tougher punishments for offenders.
Under the acid control laws, enacted in 2002 when the country recorded 490 cases, an attacker faces at a minimum seven years in jail or even the death penalty.
According to ASF, more than 2,627 people have been attacked with acid since May 1999. Some 1,500 of them have been rehabilitated by the ASF and other charities with assistance from top local companies and international NGOs.
