Violence against women and children in Thailand triples in 2022

The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) and Woman and Men Progressive Movement Foundation (WMP) reported that violence against women and children in Thailand tripled in 2022 compared to the previous year.

ThaiHealth and WMP held a seminar to promote the campaign to end violence against women and children under the theme, Stop Violence as Signals Appear Before They Make Headlines. The talk highlighted the signs of violence before an assault occurs and urged the public to pay attention to these signs and not to ignore them.

In one part of the seminar, WMP representatives reported the increasing number of cases of violence against women. The foundation clarified that women were experiencing more violence than in the past, as evidenced by the number of female victims who sought help from the foundation.

Jaree Sisawat, head of WMP’s Network Promotion Department, presented statistics collected from the news about domestic violence in 2022, stating that 1,131 cases were reported last year, which was three times more than in 2021. In the whole report, 347 (30.7%) cases were alcohol-related and 272 (24%) cases were due to drug use.

Murders within the family were reported in 534 cases, injuries in 323 cases, suicide in 155 cases and sexual assault in 64 cases. Most of the murders were between partners, and the motives were mainly jealousy and failure to reconcile. Most of the killers used guns and knives to commit crimes, said Jaree.

“What is worrying is to see a problem within the family under the male-dominated concept. It is important to teach children at a young age about rights and freedom in their lives and bodies, and it is important to note that wives are not the property or subject of husbands.”

The Women’s Well-being and Gender Equality Advisor of the Sexuality Studies Association, Waraporn Champsanit, urged government departments to join the campaign to help improve the situation.

“No matter how much we try to improve the economy and politics in Thailand, the quality of life for people in the country will never improve if there are no effective solutions to domestic violence. Thailand has not had a clear and effective solution to this problem.

“We hope that government departments with financial and human resources and power will take the issue more seriously than they do now.”