Developing societies (including Thailand) have enjoyed the presence of extended families, in contrast with the smaller unit of nuclear families. This broader coverage, encompassing not only the parents and children but also grandparents and other dependants, has offered a social safety net to support family members. Yet, that extended unit has now been disintegrating for some time, compounded by the stress due to Covid-19. What then are the areas needing more attention to tackle the changing scenario?
A recurrent challenge is domestic violence, aggravated by financial and other pressures brought about by the pandemic. While in law and policy, this is no longer considered to be a private matter but a public issue, the measures used to address the question have been inadequate. Since 2007, Thailand's Domestic Violence Act has prohibited violence within the family and imposes an obligation on those who witness violations to report abuses to the governmental authorities. Yet, in practice, this law has been criticised for allowing too much mediation between the perpetrators of violence and the victims, without sufficient accountability of the wrongdoers.
This law was supposed to be superseded by a new law -- the act concerning family protection and development in 2019. New measures under this law would include the setting up of family centres to support families and supervise difficult cases. It introduced "protection orders" whereby the family courts would issue orders to constrain abusers from approaching family members, as well as criminal and civil sanctions against violators. However, the law was vetted by the country's Constitutional Court and suspended from operation, partly because of the lack of readiness and capacity concerning implementation. There might also have been possible overlaps between the powers of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and those of prosecutors.
The relevant ministry has now set up a committee to redraft the law. Internationally, what is clear is that the country should put less emphasis on mediation and aim for more accountability of the abusers. In real-life terms, the misdeeds of the latter are often linked with alcoholism and there is a gender perspective; there is a predominance of men as the abusers. This phenomenon is linked with the remnants of a patriarchal approach and inadequate participation of fathers in sharing family-related tasks and children's upbringing. Intriguingly, the national labour law does not yet provide for automatic paternity leave as part of social protection. Stronger support for families and children, such as through cash transfers to help families revive from the pandemic and facilities to overcome the online gap, are needed as part of more rounded measures propelled by the global Sustainable Development Goals.
Another family matter which has been raised by the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child is corporal punishment of children. While this malpractice is now prohibited in the Thai educational system, some teachers still indulge in the practice and even claim that it is the parents who consent to the corporal punishment of the student. This position cannot be condoned and is in breach of both Thai law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet, the main challenge today is what happens within the family itself.
There is still no law to prohibit corporal punishment of children at home and there are still those who claim that this practice is justified according to "tradition" and "family values". The preferred approach, however, is to shun violence which often begets more violence. There is a need to spread the call of "positive discipline" which avoids corporal punishment and opts for other measures which are child-responsive, such as temporary cutbacks on some privileges so that the erring child can learn to improve and adjust without the use of violence.
Another key concern is to promote a more gender-diverse notion of the family. Obviously, this is closely linked with LGBTI issues. There is currently competing draft legislation in parliament in the form of civil unions as well as same-sex marriage. The draft civil union law from the Ministry of Justice will enable civil unions to be recognised legally between same-sex partners. There will thus be obligations in terms of shared lives and mutual caring between the two partners, as well as inheritance rights and the possibility to adopt children (including adopting the existing child of the other partner). Another draft law opens up these unions to everyone, not only homosexuals but also heterosexuals.
Meanwhile, there is a lobby which advocates full recognition of same-sex marriages. Interestingly, Section 1448 of the Civil Code stipulating marriage as being based on the man and woman binary was deliberated upon by the country's Constitutional Court in 2020; it found that the section was not in conflict with the national constitution, bearing in mind the country's "traditions". However, the ball was thrown back to the executive and parliamentary branches, since the court added that the authorities need to enact a new law on gender diversity.
On another front, there is still no gender identity recognition in Thailand to uphold the claims of transgender people to change their identity on official documents, such as identification cards. A new law is awaited on this front so as to validate gender affirmation in accordance with a person's self-determination. The international experience on this front is to advocate that there should not be coercive surgery as a pre-condition for gender identity recognition. Some countries, such as Argentina, shun compulsory counselling before a person can change their gender status. Families also have a key role in promoting understanding of gender diversity from a young age, especially to prevent bullying and other violence.
Given that a global conference of the Equal Rights Coalition (an intergovernmental coalition of over 40 countries) will take place in September 2022 in Buenos Aires to address LGBTI issues, Thailand should send a strong delegation to participate, share and learn from the experiences of other countries. A key challenge will be to tackle the narrow notion of the family and eschew those "family values" which trample on individual rights.
Society needs to be on guard against the superimposition of (so-called) collectivity over individuality, instrumentalised by less than democratic/pluralistic settings.