Response to domestic abuse 'dismal'
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Three reports of violence against children or women are made every hour in Thailand, despite a law meant to protect them that has been in place for five years.
This failure is due to lax implementation of protective measures by authorities and a dismal enforcement of the law by police, a Bangkok seminar on the subject was told yesterday.
A 1330 hotline centre, operated by the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, has been set up to receive requests for help and provide counselling. But at yesterday’s event, a network of advocacy groups for women and children requested a “friendlier attitude by ministry officials and ministry-run shelter officials towards the public”, and better coordination among agencies.
The director of the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, Jadej Chaowilai, submitted an open letter to Social Development and Human Security Minister Santi Promphat calling for an improvement in the ministry’s service for women and children, including more personnel and a better attitude on human security and emergency care for victims of abuse.
Jadej said the 2007 law authorised not only victims but members of the general public who witnessed abuse of women and children to file complaints with police. But this condition was not made widely known, while police had been dismal in taking care of cases of domestic violence or battery between spouses or other couples.
According to the network’s figures from January, three cases of abuses to children and women based in Bangkok are reported every hour. An average of 571 cases of domestic violence, 474 inflicted on women, are reported during the same period. In all cases, men initiated the violence, with 272 cases involving liquor and drugs, and another 161 involved jealousy and personal problems.
Yesterday’s seminar followed International Stop Violence against Women and Children Day, which was on Sunday.
