: View of literature:

"IT WAS LIKE BURNING IN HELL”: This thesis explores the issue of acid attack
violence: a sadistic and cruel form of violence that involves the intentional
throwing of corrosive acid onto another person with the intention of
disfiguration. Acid attack violence occurs in many countries but is particularly
prevalent in: Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Cambodia. Global statistics suggest
that attacks are predominantly perpetrated by men as a result of shame and loss
of face or loss of honor.

Existing literature on acid attacks violence:

In order to understand the complex interrelated factors involved in how, why and
where acid attack violence takes place and occurs, this study also examines the
underlying personal, situational, societal and cultural forces behind them,
drawing in part on existing literature to inform this examination. The rationale for
this focus is that some policy decision makers, judges and lawyers, community
leaders, journalists, community members and others, nominate acid attack
survivors as the cause of acid attack violence, which contributes to their further
marginalization.
Since the first century AD artificially prepared liquid acid has been used to
purify gold and fabricate imitation precious metals in ancient Greece, however,
acid attacks have only been recorded in Cambodia since 1993, India since 1982
and Bangladesh since 1967 (Stevens). Since the 1990s many medical reports have
been written about the physical impact of acid on the body particularly in
Cambodia, West Africa, Uganda and Bangladesh. 3 However, research for this
thesis has revealed a dearth of published books, reports and journal articles on
the topic of acid attack violence from an individual and socio-cultural perspective.
Responding to the paucity of available literature on this specific aspect of acid
attack violence, this literature review addresses the gaps in that literature, and in
the broader literature related to this study.
The media, medical agencies and human rights organizations working with acid
attack survivors have compiled the predominant body of work on this issues.