| Cambodia is amongst the countries where the highest numbers of acid attacks have been numbered. These aggressions, characterised by their unusual barbarity, mainly target young women, who are most of the time the victims of domestic violence or the vengeful anger of wives who will try to oust forever their youthful rival because they got themselves into a relationship with their husband. Generally speaking, the authors of such attacks are identified but most of them manage to dodge justice. The issue was brought out in the open in December 1999 with the story of Tat Marina, a rising star in the Cambodian showbiz discovered in karaoke films, who was in turn doused with acid by the wife of a member of the government. Her tragic story was internationally acknowledged and is still heard today as shown by the preview screening of a documentary about her story, presented on Wednesday March 11th at the International Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva. "Finding Face"
As they were leading their own enquiry about acid attacks in Cambodia, the Americans Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan took a particular interest in the case of Tat Marina, who now lives in exile in the United States where she obtained political asylum 2 months after having been reduced to a ghostly being. She is now living a life torn between fear and the exhausting healing of her scars. The authors of the documentary aimed at giving back a human face and dignity to the young woman, now unable to show any facial expression with her features despite the countless operations she went through. This explains the title of the documentary: "Finding Face " . For ten years, Marina has been silenced and justice has not been given to her.
Yesterday, the young and spruce teenager was featured in video-clips, all sweetness and light. Today, she says with certain sadness in her voice, that she “is not like others” and explains she wants to see the way forward and cling onto life for her son, born in America. To start with, the authors simply show a shadow, her outline, and eventually openly expose Marina’s disfigured face in front of the camera.
Tat Marina: from the nymphet to the ghost
Her story is unfortunately an ordinary one among many others. Born in a modest background, she sells shakes to help her family. All eyes are set on the pretty girl until that day when a man came to offer her a job in a karaoke bar intended for local jet-setters. She hesitates and finally accepts, convinced that she was going to be able to improve her family’s standard of living. It is in that same place that she got to know a Cambodian man who was a lot older than her and introduced himself as single and as a businessman from the States. Then aged 15 years-old, Marina believed him and was won over by his caring attentions and generous presents. But it was not long until she found out that her ever-so-perfect lover was but an under-secretary of State at the Cambodian government. On top of that, he was married, Marina’s sister recounts. She got scared and tried to escape from that relationship which had turned into a highly risky situation. But it was too late for her to back down. The man threatened to kill her or attack her family if she left him and showed her, by brute force, that she had no other choice but to remain his servile mistress.
In December 1999, as she was offering her nephew some lunch at the Olympic market in Phnom Penh, a mature woman suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled her. In a matter of seconds, Marina understood she was dealing with the wife of the lover she could not get rid of. The woman was furious and beat her up with the help of her nephews, until the final blow was struck: she doused a full bottle of acid on Marina’s head and chest. More than 43% of Marina’s body was burnt: her skin, her muscles and bones were ravaged. Miraculously, she survived her wounds and her brother, who lives in the United States, decided to take her with him and place her in a secure environment, for her to receive free quality treatment on American soil. Without any surprise, the under-secretary of State deterred Marina’s family from filing a complaint and indicated that such a decision might have terrible consequences, Marina’s brother says. The young woman’s family still lives in Cambodia.
Discredited victims
Marina openly shows her face but does not tell her story – or only by bits. Relatives, those who healed her and took care of her tell her story together with newspapers articles. Other Cambodian victims of acid attacks who stayed in the little Southeast Asian Kingdom tell their story in the documentary. “There is no rule of law here!”, one of them says. “Justice closed my case, why?”, another one says with anger.
Jason Barber, from the Cambodian NGO for the defence of Human rights LICADHO, explains that these girls, whose lives are forever shattered, do not get any sympathy from their fellow Cambodian citizens. This is why they prefer becoming invisible. “They do not think any good of us, even though we are victims. They think we necessarily did something wrong…”, an acid attack victim says. Another one urges victims to stand up for themselves and dare appearing in public “so that more people are aware of that… Then, the government might do something to put an end to these attacks”, she says.
Deputy and former Minister of Women’s Affairs Mu Sochua, from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, raises in front of the camera the issue of archaic mindsets in the Cambodian society where women are traditionally considered as inferior to men, even in Cambodian sayings. “Women and men are not treated equally in Cambodia”.
The documentary “Finding Face” ends with an image of Marina looking at the mirror reflection of the stranger she has become to herself.
Unprecedented media coverage of acid attacks
After the media covered the case, Marina’s uncle Kong Bin Chhoeun wrote her story in a book called “Marina’s Story”, published in July 2000 in Cambodia. A month later, the famous writer, then in his sixties, preferred fleeing Cambodia and obtained asylum in Norway in 2005 where he has been living since.
In December 2003, LICADHO denounced such violent acts in a report entitled "Living in the Shadows - Acid Attacks in Cambodia " . The organisation deems acid attacks “one of the worst crimes that a person can commit”. The NGO gave a voice to survivors and expressed their fear that without any prevention or repression, the phenomenon might develop even more. The authors of the report denounce the fact that too often, those who commit such crimes benefit from full impunity. They advocate stricter regulation regarding the sale of acid. The authorities did take a measure concerning that, but consequences remained unseen.
Fifteen teenagers and two teachers, for their part, created in the space of six weeks a remarkable graphic novel entitled "Shake Girl ", which is largely inspired by Tat Marina’s story and can be downloaded for free on the Internet. The book was elaborated in 2008 as part of the Graphic Novel Project initiated by the prestigious Stanford University (California). Consisting of 199 black and white pages, the piece surprises with its sensibility and the modesty of its young authors. Indeed, instead of drawing the devastated face of Marina following the acid attack, pages are covered with black colour, until an Apsara dancer appears, her face and chest blurred and veiled. The idea of illustrating this poignant story taken from a culture they knew nothing or very little about was suggested by Eric Pape, a journalist who interviewed Tat Marina and her brother in the United States back in 2001.
However, the media coverage of Marina’s case did not contribute to reversing the tendency, on the contrary. According to the authors of “Finding Face”, after her case, “we estimate that between 25 and 60 acid attacks are perpetrated every year in Cambodia”, when to this date, less than 15 persons have been prosecuted for such crimes in the country.
Festival and Forum on Human Rights
The documentary film “Finding Face” was screened as a world premiere on Wednesday March 11th as part of the International Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Full Programme on the website of the International Federation for Human Rights
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