Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) is a UK-based international non-profit organization aiming to end
acid and burns violence at a global level. In addition to public education and awareness campaigns, ASTI supports organizations in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda that they have helped to form. The organization was founded in 2002 and is a
registered charity
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
under English law.
Impact
Acid Survivors Trust International's work has produced change in challenging
acid violence. The organisation has been involved in many campaigns, such as those to introduce acid laws in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. In the case of the latter, the incidence of recorded acid violence fell from 500 cases in 2002 to less than 100 in 2012, over a 70% reduction. ASTI are also actively involved in administering medical support for survivors: former ASTI trustee Dr Ron Hiles OBE, has performed over one thousand reconstructive surgery operations and trained hundreds of surgeons who have treated thousands of patients. In 2016, The Trust Law/
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thomson Reuters Foundation is a London-based charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, a Canadian news conglomerate. The Foundation is registered as a charity in the United States and United Kingdom and is headquartered in Canary Wharf, London.
Anton ...
shortlisted ASTI for a Solicitors Journal Award for Working in Partnership with J Sagar Associate, Baker & McKenzie and P&G Asia for the comparative law study that looked at acid laws in the UK, India, Cambodia and Colombia (see research).
Supporting survivors and changing attitudes
ASTI's impact abroad has been primarily centred on providing aid and support to attack survivors whilst challenging common misconceptions around victim-hood. An example of how these have been achieved can be found in a two-year programme launched by ASTI in collaboration with local partners Burns Violence Survivors Nepal and Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan in the delivery of a
British Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
Department for International Development
, type = Department
, logo = DfID.svg
, logo_width = 180px
, logo_caption =
, picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg
, picture_width = 180px
, picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...
funded project. The project led to:
* 152 survivors benefiting from medical and psycho-social support services
* Awareness and sensitization on the causes and consequences of acid violence, acid crime legislation, police procedures and immediate response to acid attack to 513 community leaders
* 151 survivors benefit from legal support
* 54 survivors access professional skills training and financial support
* 6,360 community members reached through campaign materials or street theatre
* In Pakistan two successful radio campaigns reaching 4,400,000 people across the target regions spreading awareness on acid violence and on how to respond to an acid attack.
In another two-year project, ASTI was supported by the United Nations Trust Fund (UNTF) to work with local partners in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
and
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
in supporting survivors. The project contributed to:
* An acid law and sub-decree being passed in Cambodia.
* The Uganda National Bureau of Standards producing guidelines to regulate the use of acid.
* In Cambodia, health and legal notification and referral systems strengthened in 18 provinces and increasing the number of lawyers and legal aid professionals willing to support survivors in taking cases forward.
* In Cambodia 300 women in 2 provinces receive information on legal and medical support.
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
Acid violence is considered
gender-based violence Gender-related violence or gender-based violence includes any kind of violence directed against people due to their gender or gender identification.
Types of gender-related violence include:
* Violence against women (sometimes referred to simply a ...
in many countries as it affects women disproportionately. The
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) describes gender-based violence as "violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately".
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Cambodia have all ratified this convention yet are countries where acid violence is predominantly perpetrated by men against women.
Changing laws
Alongside its local partners, ASTI has played a central role in the fight to tackle root causes of acid violence, ensure proper justice for survivors and prevent further attacks. The following are examples of ASTI's work in changing laws:
* Acid Survivors Foundation Bangladesh, which played a key role in policy change in Bangladesh. Bangladesh was the first country to pass a law banning acid violence, in 2002.
* The organisation's local partner Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan campaigned hard and played a critical part in helping to bring about The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill in 2011 which has contributed to the decline in attacks. Once known to be the country with the highest number of such attacks (496 recorded attacks in 2002) and the highest incident rates for women, it has since experienced a drastic drop (approx. 70 attacks recorded in 2012) in the frequency of acid assaults.
* ASTI supported the work of Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) in bringing about legal reform. Cambodia has also adopted the Acid Law to criminalize and penalize perpetrators. A year after it was passed in 2012, the country also passed regulations governing the sale and use of concentrated acid.
* With over 100 victims of attack annually, Colombia has strengthened its legislative framework and enacted a law in January 2016 to impose sentences of 12 to 50 years in jail to perpetrators of acid attacks. The law was named after acid attack survivor
Natalia Ponce de Leon Natalia may refer to:
People
* Natalia (given name), list of people with this name
* Natalia (Belgian singer) (born 1980)
* Natalia (Greek singer) (born 1983)
* Natalia (Spanish singer) (born 1982)
Music and film
* ''Natalia'' (film), a 198 ...
who was attacked in 2014 and has since campaigned for stricter laws on acid violence.
* The Colombian government also sought information from ASTI on tackling acid violence. At the invitation of the Colombian government ASTI executive director visited Colombia on two occasions (2014 and 2015) to provide expert advice.
* Following the sharp increase in acid violence in the UK, the organisation was approached British
Home Office officials, the
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary (formally known as the Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department) is the person within the shadow cabinet who shadows the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government polic ...
and cross-party MPs seeking advice on tackling the surge in acid attacks. Consequently, they provided policy briefings as well as a detailed legal memorandum on loopholes in current laws. Consequently,
Amber Rudd
Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fi ...
announced that the Home Office is to ban the sale of most corrosive substances to under-18s as well as establish a six-month minimum sentence for anyone caught for the second time carrying acid without good reason.
Media coverage
The organisation is often called on for expert comment whenever an acid attack is reported in the media. ASTI has featured in and provided material for coverage of acid violence in media outlets including
the BBC
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
,
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
Patron
*
Anne, Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of ...
of Britain
References
External links
Acid Survivors Trust International*
*
*{{cite web, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/world/europe/in-zanzibar-two-smiling-men-douse-young-british-women-with-acid.html, title=Questions Follow Acid Attack on British Women in Zanzibar, first=Katrin, last=Bennhold, date=13 August 2013, access-date=10 December 2017, work=The New York Times
Domestic violence-related organizations
Violence against women
Violence against women in Pakistan
Women's rights in Asia
Charities based in London
Acid attack victims