Ugandan university student Linette Kirungi was on her way
to class when she heard footsteps behind her. The next thing she felt was
liquid on her face -- then burning agony.
She had just turned down a marriage proposal from her
ex-boyfriend. He responded by throwing acid.
"I screamed and fell down," the 27-year-old
told AFP.
"The pain was too much. The skin was peeling
off."
Acid is cheap and easy to find. Some just use acid for
car batteries. It melts the flesh, sometimes to the bone.
That attack was in 2012.
Today, Kirungi works to support survivors of acid attacks
in Uganda -- and close a legal loophole that allows attackers to easily evade
justice.
In Uganda, in 2018, 42 cases were reported to the End
Acid Violence campaign group, listing motives including jealousy and
relationship arguments.
More go unreported, activists say, who are pushing the
government to declare acid attacks a "serious crime" and police to
take action.
Uganda's Justice Minister Ephraim Kamuntu said he wanted
to stamp out the attacks.
"We are working... to see that a new law is in place
to stop this crime," Kamuntu said.
But Kirungi, whose ex-boyfriend was never arrested, said
that police lose interest if victims don't follow the case -- but they are in
hospital struggling with the pain.
"You are in the intensive care unit, and at times
you find you even don't know what is happening," Kirungi said. "Once
you fail to appear they will close the case."
Survivors of the attacks can spend months in hospital,
often lose their jobs, and then end up homeless.
"You fear people seeing you," said Jennifer
Mutesi, who also was attacked with acid.
It is not just a Ugandan problem. Such attacks happen
worldwide.
ActionAid, an international organisation working for
social justice, say acid attacks mainly target women -- and the method is used
because of the importance placed on a woman's physical appearance.
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