Neela Khatunis is one of thousands of faces permanently scarred by gender-based violence. Picture: Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Source: Supplied

EVERY week, somewhere in Bangladesh, a woman’s life is changed forever when she is doused with acid and disfigured.

Women are also regularly attacked in Cambodia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The western world isn’t immune either.

The motivations vary but most are very simple: a man’s reputation has been damaged. Maybe his sexual advances were rejected. Maybe he was cheated on. Whatever the reason, the punishment does not fit the crime.

Victims suffer horrific physical injuries. Not only does their skin burn, but often they are severely disfigured. Acid causes the skin tissue to melt, it attacks the eyes, it dissolves the bones. In certain cases, ears and noses are lost completely.

Women also suffer the stigma attached to deformity, one that can be especially crippling in a place where finding a husband can mean the difference between poverty and security.

The Acid Survivors Foundation, a charity established in 1999 to help victims in Bangladesh, says five women were attacked last month and 30 women have been attacked since January. Since 1999, there has been an astonishing 3240 incidents, peaking in 2002 when 494 women were attacked with acid.

The true number is likely higher than that because victims are afraid to report the attack.

The foundation says women are attacked when they “exercise decision-making power by rejecting a marriage or ‘love’ proposal” and the attackers “aim for a woman’s face in an attempt to destroy what many members of society consider to be one of her most important asset — her beauty”.

‘WHEN I SAW MYSELF I SCREAMED’

Neela Amina Khatun (left) was left permanently scarred by her husband. Picture: Nicolas Axelrod/ActionAid Source: Supplied

Neela Aminu Khatun is one of the thousands of victims of acid attacks since 1999. Her life changed forever in 2006 when her husband poured acid over her face in the pair’s bed.

They had married when she was just 12 in forced nuptials. Two years later he turned on her.

She had not cheated on him, nor had she said no to his advances. Instead, she had failed to pay a dowry — an amount of money the bride’s family pays to the husband.

“My husband was angry for a long time because he claimed a dowry but my family couldn’t provide one,” she told ActionAid, an Australian-based organisation working with victims in Dhaka.

He fled after the attack, leaving Neela scarred for life and unable to come to grips with what she saw in the mirror.

“I spent six months in hospital. I was so depressed because I was in a closed room and my whole body was bandaged up, so I couldn’t move. It felt like I was in a cage,” she said.

“The first time the bandage came off I didn’t see my face. But then after a few minutes I saw, and was just screaming, ‘Who is this, who is this, is it me?’”

ActionAid spokeswoman Carol Angir told news.com.au women who survive acid attacks often hide themselves away.

“Attacks are generally meant to disfigure, and they do,” she said.

“This is made worse by the fact that in many countries where acid attacks take place regularly, there are very few treatment facilities. In Bangladesh there is just one burns unit in the country.”

She said the dowry, also referred to as a “bride price” is the most common reason for the attacks.

“There are a great number of reasons that men attack women, but the most prolific is associated with bride price. Her husband will often attack her as an act of revenge.”

The acid is relatively easy to get. A goldsmith in the city’s Tatibazar area said in 2009 that “you just ask traders for acid”. It retailed at the time for less than $A1 a litre.

Though Bangladesh is home to the highest number of attacks each year, women are regularly attacked in countries including Afghanistan, Cambodia, Pakistan and India.

‘NOW LET’S SEE WHO WILL MARRY YOU!’

Mumtaz, 20, has been hiding away for four years after she was attacked. Picture: Shah Marai / AFP. Source: AFP

Violence against women is ingrained in Afghanistan and increasingly perpetrators are inventing new and disturbing ways to execute their attacks.

A woman named Mumtaz, 20, was doused with acid four years ago. The reason: she rejected a marriage proposal.

She was left disfigured, scarred and traumatised and has been subjected to death threats ever since.

For the first time since it happened, Mumtaz has spoken about her attack.

“He grabbed me by my hair and hurled the acid at my face with such vengeance, as if to say ‘now let’s see who will marry you’,” she told AFP last week.

Her attacker was a man named Nasir. He was rejected by Mumtaz when she was 14 and, two years later, after she got engaged to another man, he exacted his revenge.

She said she remembers writhing and screaming after the attack. The worst part is she worries it could happen again.

“They threatened to behead me, (saying): ‘We will kill your whole family when we get out of prison’ (and) ‘We will come after you’,” Mumtaz said.

Her father Sultan told AFP Mumtaz will never be free of her attackers.

“They will never leave us alone,” he said.

“We are barely living, confined to our home, stripped of our livelihood. It’s a helpless feeling.”

‘HE FELL IN LOVE WITH ME AND HE FOLLOWED ME EVERYWHERE’

Model and Karaoke star Tat Marina before the attack. Picture: Finding Face documentary. Source: Supplied

In Cambodia, Tat Marina’s face is easily recognisable. It was that way before the attack, too.

The 16-year-old was a knockout. People couldn’t get enough of her. She was already a successful model and karaoke video star in Cambodia. Her looks were her livelihood.

Everything changed in an instant when a woman threw acid on her face in 1999. Her torture was unimaginable at the time, but it is made worse by the fact that nobody has been charged for it.

In a documentary titled Finding Face, Marina speaks out about the attack.

“When I was 14, a karaoke producer asked me if I wanted to be in music,” she said.

That’s how she met Svay Sitha, then Undersecretary of State in Cambodia.

“He fell in love me and he followed me everywhere. He locked me up for 10 days in a hotel room. If I said I didn’t want to be with him my family would be in trouble.”

She stayed with him, but soon after a woman holding a bottle of acid approached and threw it over her face and body.

The Phnom Penh Post reported “caustic liquid melted her skin, liquefied her flesh, burned off her ears, blinded her eyes and washed away her young, beautiful face”.

Sitha’s wife Khourn Sophal was blamed for the attack but she has never been held accountable.

These days, Marina is fighting the impunity that saw her attackers walk away without conviction. On the other side of the world, where Katie Piper was attacked, at least there was justice.

SPEAKING FOR VICTIMS SILENCED BY THEIR ATTACKERS

Katie Piper had sulfuric acid thrown in her face in 2008. Picture: Chris Jackson. Source: Getty Images

Katy Piper now hosts Body Shockers on ABC2. Source: ABC

English television presenter Katie Piper is speaking out for victims who cannot face the public scrutiny themselves.

The 31-year-old former model and TV presenter spoke publicly about her attack in the documentary Katie: My Beautiful Face in October, 2009. A year earlier she was in a hospital bed dealing with an attack that would change her life — and her appearance — forever.

In March, 2008, Piper’s ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch organised for his friend Stefan Sylvestre to throw the acid on the model.

Piper was walking into an intersection in North London when Sylvestre approached. He paused before throwing the acid with both hands. CCTV footage of the attack shows Piper run into a cafe before splashing water on her face.

Both Lynch and Sylvestre were convicted over the attack. Lynch received two life sentences and Sylvestre received one.

Piper has not let the attack stop her from pursuing a career in television. She has been the host of Bodyshockers since 2013 but has undergone dozens of surgeries in the eight years since she was attacked.

In Asia, where doctors treat acid burn victims daily, the fight to empower survivors continues. With each victim who speaks out, they also empower themselves. But they need help.

Ms Angir said NGOs are providing just that.

“For a long time women who have survived acid attacks have hidden away to stop from having to show their face publicly after the attack,” she told news.com.au.

“However, a lot of the work happening around the world is focused on ensuring that women have the support they need to rebuild their lives — which includes accessing education, employment and social networks.

“Women in rural communities, where acid attacks almost always occur, need the most support. They cannot easily access information on how to find justice after and attack, or how to access the support that is available to them.”

Three Indian acid-attack survivors confront the violence committed against them by writing letters to their attackers.

To help, visit www.actionaid.org/australia.