Every year in Bangladesh several hundred girls and woman are victims of attack with caustic substances. Generally the motive is the rejection of a marriage or sexual proposal, or a fight within the family. The perpetrators, almost always men, regularly go free. The seriously maimed victims, on the other hand, are cast out by their families and forced to live by begging. The Victims of Acid Attacks Foundation in Dhaka helps and treats these women. In Bangladesh cheap bleaching agents are available on every street corner. In Pakistan and India too women are regularly doused with caustic substances.

Andrew Testa (b. 1965, Great Britain) is a regular contributor to the New York Times and The Observer. His work has been widely published in magazines such as Paris Match, Der Spiegel, Newsweek, Stern. He won the Amnesty International Media Award for Photojournalism for Acid Attacks in Bangladesh.