FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Stepping into the light

Stepping into the light

On November 10, the Chiang Mai Court sentenced a 31-year-old local man to 29 years and three months in prison for the rape of the seven-year-old daughter of migrants.

 

MAP Foundation, a Thai NGO, working with migrant workers from Burma, runs activities dedicated to reducing violence against migrant women and girls, and to increasing their access to justice. Burmese migrant women have written their stories of violence, exploitation and abuse, and the stories of their efforts to get justice, and compiled them into a report entitled “Stepping Into The Light”, soon to be released by MAP Foundation.
We would like to share a few of these stories of brave migrant girls and women who have experienced physical and sexual violence and who have sought justice. 
In the suburbs of Chiang Mai, in February this year, a 31-year-old local man kidnapped the seven-year-old daughter of migrants from Burma, from a school toilet. He hit her and shoved her face down the toilet bowl and then drove her 10 kilometres to his home, where he raped her. He then drove back to the school and dumped her in front of the school. The police had already been alerted, and arrested him immediately. The community called MAP in to provide legal assistance, as the young girl was not being treated according to the law in the proceedings. However, in terms of punishment and prosecution, justice was served in this case. 
In stopping violence against women, we remember our friend in Phang Nga who one night in 2007, had, together with her husband, just started tapping the rubber at around 1am in the morning when she heard rustling in the forest and Thai male voices. The next moment, she heard a gun shot and her husband was lying dead, and the next moment she was being raped.  Despite great intimidation and being in severe shock, she dared to try for justice. But to this day, no justice has been served. Despite physical evidence left at the scene, the police have never arrested anyone for this heinous crime.
We remember the two young Karen women taking a taxi to Chachengsao. On the way, the taxi-driver drove into a short-time motel and raped one of the women. He then got in his taxi, drove away and called the police to tell them there were illegal migrants at the motel. Even though the police had the licence number of the taxi, no one has been arrested for this rape.
We remember the mother and daughter on the construction site in Mae Sot who reported the case of the daughter being raped in January this year, and who were pressured to accept compensation money, even though the girl was a minor and therefore the case could not be settled without prosecution by law.
And lastly, we can never forget the two refugees, a young woman and girl, raped by two Rangers outside a refugee camp in Mae Hong Son in 2002, who dared to fight everyone to get justice, and succeeded in taking the case to military court and prosecuting the rapists, and who, through doing so, also succeeded in bringing violence against migrant and refugee women into the light.
 
Jackie Pollock is the director of MAP Foundation, Chiang Mai (www.mapfoundationcm.org).
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