ڈیپلیکس سمائل اگین فاؤنڈیشن | |
Formation | 2003 |
---|---|
Founded at | Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
Type | nonprofit foundation |
Legal status | Active |
Purpose | Aid for female acid attack victims |
Location | |
Region | Punjab, Pakistan |
Chairwoman | Musarrat Misbah |
Musarrat Misbah | |
Website | depilexsmileagain |
Depilex Smileagain Foundation is a Pakistani nonprofit organization, started by human rights activist Musarrat Misbah to provide medical treatment and financial aid to the female acid attack victims. [1] [2] [3]
Human rights activist Musarrat Misbah established the nonprofit organization Depilex Smileagain Foundation in Lahore in 2003, [4] but officially registered it in 2005. [5] [6]
According to The Guardian in 2020, Misbah's Depilex salons were training and hiring acid burned victims and survivors. [1]
In 2010, Misbah received the Pride of Performance award for her contributions to medical treatment and financial aid for burn and acid attack victims, particularly women, through her foundation. [7]
Misbah was also honored by the Italian government on International Women's Day for her courage and commitment, becoming the first Pakistani woman to receive such recognition from Italy. [7]
According to a 2017 report, since 2003, the foundation had provided medical treatment to approximately 760 victims. However, the majority of the victims succumbed to their injuries due to a lack of adequate facilities, despite the foundation receiving funding from the government and non-governmental agencies. [8]
In 2010, the Islamabad High Court froze the bank account of Misbah for her alleged involvement in misusing funds received from national and international agencies for her foundation. The foundation had claimed to provide medical and financial aid to burn victims but allegedly collected funds from foreign charitable organizations based on these claims. [9]
The organization also received a donation of two acres of land for the establishment of a hospital and training camps for burn victims. However, the project, estimated to cost PKR 380,000,000, was not completed. [9]
ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.
Women in Pakistan make up 48.76% of the population according to the 2017 census of Pakistan. Women in Pakistan have played an important role in Pakistani history and have had the right to vote since 1956. In Pakistan, women have held high office including Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, as well as federal ministers, judges, and serving commissioned posts in the armed forces, with Lieutenant General Nigar Johar attaining the highest military post for a woman. Benazir Bhutto was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988.
The international response to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake was widespread and immediate, as many countries, international organizations and non-governmental organizations offered an abundance of relief aid to the affected regions − particularly Pakistan, which was hit the hardest due to the earthquake's epicentre being around Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Pakistani-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The aid given was in the form of monetary donations and pledges, as well as relief supplies including food, various medical supplies, tents and blankets. Rescue and relief workers as well as peacekeeping troops were sent from different parts of the world to the region, bringing along rescue equipment, including helicopters and rescue dogs. The earthquake displaced some 3.3 million people, while killing around 80,000–100,000.
The Acid Survivors Foundation is a Bangladeshi non-governmental organisation dedicated to raising awareness and preventing acid attacks and providing survivors with medical and legal aid.
An earthquake occurred at 08:50:39 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a territory under Pakistan. Its epicenter was 19 km northeast of the city of Muzaffarabad, and 90 km north north-east of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6 on the Richter scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The earthquake was also felt in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India and the Xinjiang region. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust. Although not the largest earthquake to hit this region in terms of magnitude it is considered the deadliest, surpassing the 1935 Quetta earthquake. Sources indicate that the official death toll in this quake in Pakistan was between 73,276 and 87,350, with some estimates being as high as over 100,000 dead. In India, 1,360 people were killed, while 6,266 people were injured, while four others died in Afghanistan. Three and a half million people were left without shelter, and approximately 138,000 people were injured in the quake.
Direct Relief is a nonprofit humanitarian organization whose mission is to improve the lives of people in poverty or emergency situations by providing the appropriate medical resources. The charity provides emergency medical assistance and disaster relief in the United States and internationally. It is the largest channel for donations of prescription medications and medical supplies in the U.S.
The Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) is a non-profit, non-governmental and non-religious organization located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, committed to empowering and supporting survivors of acid burns and eliminating acid violence through legal reform and preventative education.
Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) is a UK-based international non-profit organization founded in 2002. It is a registered charity under English law. ASTI works to promote and protect the survivors of acid and burn violence, with the aim of ending acid violence globally. In addition to public education and awareness campaigns, ASTI has worked with and sustains organizations in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Uganda.
An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill". Perpetrators of these attacks throw corrosive liquids at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. Acid attacks can lead to permanent partial or complete blindness.
Saving Face is a 2012 documentary film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Daniel Junge about acid attacks on women in Pakistan. The film won an Emmy Award and the 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject, making its director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Pakistan's first Oscar winner. The film was inspired from the life of acid victim Fakhra Younus, who died by suicide in 2012.
Fakhra Younus was a Pakistani woman who was the victim of an acid attack, which severely injured her face. She underwent 39 surgeries during a 10-year period. She died by suicide at age 33.
Domestic violence in Pakistan is an endemic social and public health problem. According to a study carried out in 2009 by Human Rights Watch, it is estimated that between 10 and 20% of women in Pakistan have suffered some form of abuse. Women have reported attacks ranging from physical to psychological and sexual abuse from intimate partners. A survey carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked Pakistan as the sixth most dangerous country for women while India ranked 1st as the most dangerous country for women. Given the very few women's shelters in the country, victims have limited ability to escape from violent situations.
YouCaring was a crowdfunding website for personal, medical, and charitable causes. The company was a Certified B corporation based in San Francisco, California. YouCaring did not take a percentage of funds raised on its site, or charge those raising funds a fee. The company relied on voluntary donations from donors to fund operations. YouCaring was acquired by GoFundMe in 2018.
Dr Asim Shahmalak is a British hair transplant surgeon, broadcaster, and proponent of such surgery. He performed the UK's first eyelash transplant in 2009, and has treated a number of British celebrity patients.
Laxmi Agarwal is an Indian acid attack survivor, a campaigner for rights of acid attack victims, and a TV host. Laxmi is founder and President of The Laxmi Foundation, an NGO dedicated to acid attack victims. She is a former director of Chhanv Foundation. She was attacked at the age of 15.
Make Love Not Scars is an Indian nonprofit organisation based in New Delhi. The organisation works with acid-attack survivors and was founded by Ria Sharma. Tania Singh is the C.E.O of Make Love Not Scars. It assists with the complete rehabilitation of acid attack survivors, including providing survivors with financial, legal and educational help. As of November 6, 2016, the organisation had helped approximately 70 survivors across India. The NGO has recently been under scanner for collecting funds and not forwarding them to the victims.
Sangita Magar is a Nepalese woman who became an activist for victims' rights after surviving an acid attack. She and a friend were attacked when she was 16, but managed to take her SLC exam 25 days later. She subsequently fought to change laws pertaining to victims of such attacks and to the unregulated sale of acid.
Pragya Prasun is an Indian activist who survived an acid attack and set up the Atijeevan Foundation. The organisation has supported more than 250 other survivors and in 2019, she received the Nari Shakti Puraskar awarded the Government of India in recognition of her work.
Musarrat Misbah is a Pakistani beautician, entrepreneur, actress and philanthropist. She is well known for helping face burned women in Pakistan through her Depilex Smileagain Foundation.
The Chhanv Foundation is a non-governmental organization (NGO) set up by Alok Dixit and Ashish Shukla in 2013 in order to help the survivors of acid attacks. It runs cafés known under the social enterprise Sheroes Hangout in Agra, Lucknow and Noida which works for the rehabilitation and employment of acid attack survivors. The NGO received the Nari Shakti Puraskar and in 2020 stated it had helped over 100 survivors of acid attacks.