酸攻撃の被害女性、苦しむ仲間に救いの手　メキシコ

【メキシコ市ＡＦＰ＝時事】メキシコ人女性のカルメン・サンチェスさん（３７）は、自分を虐待していたパートナーと別れた後、酸で襲撃され重傷を負った。今、その治癒の一環として、同様の被害を受けた女性たちの人生の立て直しを手助けしている。（写真は酸攻撃の被害者を支援する団体「カルメン・サンチェス基金」の設立者カルメン・サンチェスさん）
　人生を一変させた酸攻撃から８年間、皮膚の再建や移植を含め、６１回に及ぶ手術を受けた。
　「耐える毎日ですが、完全に治るのかどうか分かりません」。傷痕を隠すために黒いサングラスを着けたサンチェスさんは語る。「事故に遭ったのでも、生まれつきでもありません。計画的に酸を買い、私に浴びせたのです。鏡を見るたびに、彼の姿が浮かびます」
　サンチェスさんは昨年、「酸による暴力に終止符を打つ」ために、自分の名前を冠した「カルメン・サンチェス基金」を設立した。犠牲者には親交と友情が不可欠だ、というのが基金の信条だ。
　基金はさまざまな難題に直面しているという。犠牲者が限られた医療しか受けられない公的保健制度や、加害者が処罰を免れてしまう実効性のない司法制度などだ。
　メキシコでは、ジェンダーに基づく暴力（ＧＢＶ）が大きな問題となっている。２０２１年には女性が殺害された事件が約３７５０件あり、そのうち約１０００件がフェミサイド（女性を標的とした殺人）だった。
　カルメン・サンチェス基金の記録によると、２００１年以降に起きた女性に対する酸攻撃は３１件で、そのうち６人が死亡している。酸攻撃の発生件数は増加傾向にある。

■「一生忘れない」
　２人の娘を持つサンチェスさんは、彼女を虐待した元パートナーを３回にわたり警察に訴えた。だがパートナーは処罰を逃れたうえ、別れた後の２０１４年にサンチェスさんの顔に酸を浴びせたのだ。
　「一生忘れられないようなことをしてやると、彼は言ったのです」
　基金では犠牲となった女性たちが治療や法的アドバイス、心理療法などを無償で受けられるよう手助けしている。現在支援しているのは８人で、その１人がジャスミンさん（３４）だ。
　１年半前、ジャスミンさんは仕事を終えて職場を出たときに突然、女性から液体をかけられた。片方の耳を失い、まぶたや首、両脚、片腕にやけどを負った。元パートナーが仕向けたのだろうと疑っているという。
　攻撃の前から何年にも及んでいたパートナーの暴力について、ジャスミンさんはこれまで口を閉ざしていた。だがカルメン・サンチェス基金のおかげで今では解放された気分だと話す。
　「私たち（被害者）が非難されることはありません。何か理由があったからやられたんだなどと誰も言いません。今は守られていると感じています。こんな目に遭ったのは私だけだと思っていましたが、世界中で起きている問題だということも分かりました」
　マルタ・アビラさん（６３）は２０１７年、娘の元夫に酸をかけられた。「彼は娘を襲いに来て、娘が見つからないと、私に向かってきました。『やつが好きなものをめちゃくちゃにしてやる』と言いました」
　全身のほぼ半分にやけどを負いながらも、アビラさんは被害を受けたのが娘ではなく自分で良かったと言う。「まだ若くして人生を壊されるなんて想像がつきません。その加害者が（娘の）子どもの父親だなんて」とやるせない様子で語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/23-14:03）

After Mexican mother Carmen Sanchez left her abusive ex-partner he attacked her with acid, leaving her severely scarred. As part of her healing process, she now helps fellow victims rebuild their lives.
In the eight years since her life was changed forever, the 37-year-old has undergone 61 operations, including skin reconstruction and grafts.
Every day I endure it but I don't know if I will heal completely at some point, said Sanchez, who wears dark glasses to cover traces of the attack.
It wasn't an accident. I wasn't born that way. He planned it, went and bought the acid and threw it at me. When I look in the mirror, I see him, she said.
Her Carmen Sanchez Foundation -- launched in 2021 to put a stop to acid violence -- believes that companionship and friendship are crucial for victims.
It faces challenges such as dealing with a public health system that guarantees only limited treatment for victims, and a judicial system beset by impunity and ineffectiveness, Sanchez said.
Gender-based violence is a major problem in Mexico, which registered around 3,750 murders of women in 2021, of which about 1,000 were classified as femicides.
The foundation has documented 31 acid attacks against women since 2001, of whom six died.
The crime is on the rise, with seven cases in 2021, compared with two on average in previous years, according to the group, whose goal is for victims to regain some enjoyment of life.
The moments of leisure, the celebration of important dates, going out to eat or simply talking on the phone is a fundamental part of what can keep them on their feet, said its co-president Ximena Canseco.
- 'Remember forever' -
Sanchez, who has two daughters, reported her abusive ex-partner three times but he escaped punishment and sprayed acid in her face in 2014 after she left him.
He told me that he was going to do something to me that I would remember forever, she said.
Sanchez spent eight months in a public hospital, after which she relied on private doctors who treat victims free of charge.
At the public hospital, they told me I could live with my scars and to be thankful I survived, she said.
After the police failed to arrest her ex-partner, Sanchez tracked him down herself and he was finally captured in 2021.
I was the one who did all the work, she said.
Yazmin, 34, is one of eight women whom the Carmen Sanchez Foundation helps to obtain free medical treatment, legal advice and psychological therapy.
A year and a half ago, when she was leaving her work, a woman threw a liquid on her, leaving her in agony.
Yazmin lost an ear and suffered burns to her eyelids, neck, legs and one arm.
She suspects her attacker was sent by her ex-partner.
Days before, we argued on the telephone and he told me to be careful because he had a little surprise for me, said the woman, who did not want to give her full name.
- 'A global problem' -
Yazmin kept silent about her violent relationship for years before the attack, but now she feels liberated thanks to the foundation.
We're not judged. They don't say: 'They did it to you for a reason.' You feel protected. I thought I was the only one, but I discovered that it is a global problem, Yazmin said.
Among other affected countries, hundreds of acid attacks are reported in India each year, although -- like in Mexico -- experts fear they are only the tip of the iceberg.
Colombia, where the crime is punishable by 50 years in prison, registered 50 cases in 2021, 28 of them against women, according to official figures.
Britain has one of the world's highest rates of recorded acid attacks per capita -- most apparently gang-related and targeting men, according to the charity Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI).
Martha Avila, 63, calls herself a collateral victim of acid violence in Mexico.
In March 2017, she was assaulted by her daughter's Argentine ex-husband.
He came to attack her, but since he couldn't find her, he came for me. He said he was going to 'destroy what she loved the most,' she said.
Despite suffering burns on nearly half her body, Avila is glad that she was the victim, not her daughter.
I couldn't imagine what it's like to have your life destroyed so young, and even more so if he's the father of your children, she said.