By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia — Viviana Hernandez still vividly recalls the acid attack that left her with burns on her face, chest, and hands, and took her eyesight in her left eye. “All of a sudden you see some liquid coming towards your face and you think that somebody might have slipped, or that they want to get you wet,” she said. “You never imagine that it can happen to you.”

The aim of these attacks is not to kill but to punish women. Hernandez, 28, noted that when her former husband wanted to get back together with her, she refused. She said, “he used to call me, to threaten me. On the day of the attack, he followed me.” While, her husband did not throw the acid himself, he did point her out to hired attackers.

Another young woman told BBC that “when they threw acid, they also told me: ‘it is your fault for being so pretty.” These attacks often result from domestic disputes or romantic rivals, and as a result, many of the victims are not given proper care, nor are they immediately hospitalized.

A plastic surgeon in Colombia, Dr. Linda Guerrero, explains that, “When a woman has little schooling and no job, she’s financially dependent on a man. That creates a situation where women are inferior, where men can say, ‘I’m the owner of that woman and therefore I have a right to do want I want with her.'”

Colombian Congresswoman Gloria Estela Diaz introduced a bill in mid-march to toughen the punishment for acid attackers. Currently, assailants can get a maximum ten-year jail sentence. Diaz’s bill will heighten the sentence from between eight-to-thirty years, without a possibility of reduced jail time. She also hopes to restrict the sale of the acids typically used against women–phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, and nitric acids.

Many women continue to struggle proving the identity of their attacker. Hernandez is one of these women. As a result, she was forced to flee to another city to protect herself. “We carry this tragedy with us every day,” she stated.

For further information, please see:

UPI – 3 Arrested in Bogota for Acid Attacks – 6 June 2012

BBC – Colombia Acid Victims Seek Justice as Attacks Spread – 30 May 2012

Care2 Make a Difference – Acid Attacks on Colombian Women – 21 May 2012

Fijilive – Acid Attacks on Women Grow in Colombia – 8 March 2012