Call to action: Domestic violence cases

A network working to stem gender-based violence has warned of the number of incidences of domestic violence in the country and has called on the government to put legal reforms in place to address the issue.

Domestic violence is behind 15,000 injuries a year hospitalised on average in the country, said Varaporn Chamsanit, a secretary-general of the Sexualities Studies Association and a representative of the Coalition Against Gender-based Violence (GBV) Thailand.

According to the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, the media has reported 1,086 cases in 2023.

Seventy-five percent of those were crimes of assault and murder committed by one spouse against another.

Regarding media stories with unmarried couples and domestic violence, in 2023 so far, 49% were due to assault or murder by one partner using a gun against the other.

Ms Varaporn said legal action is not sufficient to protect and provide victims with support.

She added that even though the problem is severe, the anti-telephone violence law has such big loopholes that it fails to protect victims.

Such loopholes include relatively lenient punishment for domestic violence perpetrators, an overemphasis on reconciliation unfavourable to victims and other facets of the law susceptible to different lines of interpretation that can be used to avoid prosecution.

Ms Varaporn said the law did not include clear coordination mechanisms among state agencies, and did not guarantee sufficient resources for victims.

She said the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has drafted amendments to the Victims of Domestic Violence Protection Act to broaden protections of victims, but the measures still have shortcomings that should be addressed.

The group urges the government to amend the act to fill legal loopholes in applying and better combat cases in the nation.