A United Nations working group has encouraged Thailand to strengthen legal protection mechanisms to safeguard women from all backgrounds, even though Thailand has shown progress in protecting the rights of women and girls.
The UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls held a media event last week to report its preliminary findings after a 12-day visit to relevant stakeholders in Bangkok, Mae Sot, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai from Dec 2-13.
The group, consisting of five independent experts, was invited by the Thai government to assess the progress and challenges in achieving gender equality and discrimination elimination. They are still collecting the information until the end of February and will present its full report to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2025.
Haina Lu and Ivana Krstic, experts from the working group, pointed out several areas that need to be addressed.
"We would like to see the government's commitment put into action," said Ms Lu, adding that gender-based violence is still pervasive, especially in vulnerable women groups. "This is still our big concern," she added.
Ms Krstic said that addressing gender-based violence is not only about having good laws but it is also about how to effectively implement laws and how to provide efficient protection for survivors.
Resource Disparities
The working group's report also expressed concern about the lack of effective implementation of gender-sensitive budgeting, which is critical to ensuring sufficient resources to meet the diverse needs of women and girls.
"Policies are not being adapted to address specific needs of local communities. Resource disparities limit access to rights and essential services for women and girls, especially in border regions and southern border provinces," the report said.
The experts also expressed concern that gender-based violence remains widespread, with limited access to justice. The report stated that over 30,000 cases of sexual violence against women and girls occur each year. Yet, only around 5,000 cases are reported to the police, and only around 1,500 cases result in arrests.
From 2013 to 2022, the Department of Women's Affairs and Family Development recorded 14,495 incidents of domestic violence, with 13,535 victims, among whom 11,162 were women. In 2022, only 158 police complaints for domestic violence were filed, and only 10 cases proceeded to trial under the Domestic Violence Victims Protection Act, which revealed a serious gap exists between the reported incidents and those prosecuted.
They were also concerned that technology-facilitated gender-based violence was on the rise, with girls, women politicians, and women human rights defenders becoming frequent targets of online sexual harassment, doxing, and cyberbullying. They said that overcrowding and lack of independent monitoring and oversight of correctional facilities also raise serious concerns that human rights violations may occur and go unreported.
At the same time, the group was further concerned about female genital mutilation that had been practised in certain parts of Thailand, such as in the southern border provinces, and that there is neither a law prohibiting it nor official statistics on its prevalence.
Marginalised groups
The working group was also concerned about compounded discrimination faced by women and girls from marginalised groups, including refugees and migrants, ethnic and religious minorities, stateless persons, persons with disabilities, LGBT+ people, victims of human trafficking, sex workers, and those living with HIV/Aids.
"These intersecting challenges often lead to unequal access to justice, education, healthcare, and employment, perpetuating cycles of vulnerability and exploitation," they said.
They urged the government to take bold steps to translate existing legal commitments into meaningful action. They also encourage the government to decriminalise sex workers as it will help reduce corruption and sextortion, especially towards undocumented women who face barriers to accessing justice and support services.
The working group also recommended that the government step up law enforcement and judiciary training on victim-based approaches and anti-discrimination, particularly in rural and border areas.
The working group also commended the establishment of a social assistance centre to provide a 24/7 hotline for gender-based violence victims and the setting up of child and family homes in every province to provide temporary shelter for victims.
It also encouraged the government to expand access to government shelters to all women and girls without discrimination, create middle and long-term shelters for victims, increase resource allocation and improve the quality of services provided by One Stop Crisis Centres of the Public Health Ministry, particularly in remote areas. It also wanted to ensure that potential victims were aware of the existence of the centres.
"While the establishment of One Stop Crisis Centers and their multidisciplinary methodology is a positive development, the safety of survivors is often jeopardised by chronic underfunding of such centres, the stigma against survivors, and reliance on mediation with the perpetrator," the experts said.
Furthermore, the government should dedicate additional resources to ensure that necessary accommodation is provided for survivors with disabilities and those with language barriers by providing greater support to civil society organisations that provide specialised support to victims.
Additionally, authorities should ensure that undocumented migrants who are victims of human trafficking can be properly identified and are not deterred from reporting their violence and exploitation due to their status. The group also suggested the government invest more resources towards addressing human trafficking at the root.
The group also suggested the government establish procedures to track victims of gender-based violence and learn about their recovery progress. The government must also ensure the survivors receive timely compensation without depending on the voluntary compliance of perpetrators.
"By ensuring that no woman or girl is left behind, Thailand should translate its constitutional promises into reality, positioning itself as a trailblazer for gender equality in the region," the working group said.
"To achieve this goal, it is necessary to foster strong partnerships with Thailand's vibrant civil society organisations and women's rights defenders, whose contributions must be actively supported and safeguarded against any form of harassment, intimidation, or threats."
