Speaking out for victims of violence

The Nation 11/01/2010

While some changes have been made to help the woman and children who suffer from physical and sexual abuse, much more remains to be done Ads by Google

After a day at school, the four-year-old girl is unusually silent. Normally cheerful and talkative, all she says to her worried parents is that she's been "injected" and that it happened at school. That night, she wets her bed. The next morning, she hides behind her mother when she sees a man on the street.

At the hospital, the doctor is able to calm the child long enough to conduct a complete pelvic examination and ascertain that she's been sexually abused. Two weeks pass before the little girl has a chance to identify the suspect. The parents file charges but are told by the police that an arrest warrant can't be issued. There's no evidence and the school principal doesn't believe the child.

The case is later referred to the Paveena Foundation for Women and Children. For the child and her family, the damage is done. The girl is taken out of school and they move to another province.

"Sexual violence doesn't just have physical effects but can do psychological, social and economical harm too," explained a psychologist with the Public Health Ministry's One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC).

She was speaking at the seminar "Brainstorming for Protection and Healing Women in Sexual Violence Lawsuits: Rape or Not Rape", organised recently by the Foundation for Women, the Women's Studies Centre, Chiang Mai University's Social Sciences Faculty, the Rabibhadanasak Judicial Research Institute and the Thai Criminal Law Institute.

The OSCC, Soon Pueng Dai in Thai (literally "Dependable Centre"), was set up in 2003 in hospitals nationwide to help the many children and women who become victims of violence.

The psychologist said that of the 50 cases she personally handled between October 2008 and the middle of 2009, 41 involved sexual violence. Of the children seen, most had been sexually abused, while among the women, physical abuse was the most common complaint.

Sexual violence cannot be eliminated by legislation alone, says National Anti-Corruption Commission member Professor Vicha Mahakun. "Good provision is not enough. What we need is the 5Ps: good provision, good protection, good prosecution, good prevention and good policy."

The key to good protection, he suggests, is to build a watchdog network. "We need to have a network in each area and in each community."

For good prosecution, he says we must stop judging sexual violence cases by reading the records. "Sexual violence cases are sensitive; they involve emotion. The court needs to witness the fresh emotions of the victims. In Norway, during the examination of an abused child, both attorney and judge are present in a special room."

Thonburi Criminal Court chief Vacharin Pajjaekvinyusakul says the rights of abused women are now being protected through the opening of a special courtroom for victims of sexual abuse.

"The women no longer have to confront the defendants, so there is no risk of intimidation.

"Guards guide the victims through different entrances and exits from the suspects and the staff have been trained to provide a friendlier service. In the past, many of the staff were overly curious about women who'd been sexually abused with the result that the victims felt uneasy about speaking out. Now, after training, they are helpful and the victims feel safe and are more willing to talk."

In line with procedures followed in Britain and New Zealand, the case file covers of sexual abuse cases at the Thonburi Court are different from those of other cases to remind staff not to use words that might be offensive and cause victims to feel as though they are being attacked a second time.

But while progress has been made at Thonburi, many are furious at the latest changes to the Criminal Code on rape. The wording in Article 276, for example, has been changed from "whoever rapes others" to "whoever rapes women" and the definition of rape has been adjusted from "using the sexual organ of the actor to act on the sexual organs, anus or oral opening of others, or using other objects to act on sexual organ or anus of others", to exclusively mean "penetration of male sexual organs into female sexual organs".

"I worry about males, gays and transgenders. If they are raped, they hurt as much, if not more than women," comments Constitution Court Judge Jaran Pakdeethanakul.

Sexual violence laws in many countries in today's world go beyond the bipolarity of the mainstream genders, says Assoc Prof Kritaya Archavanitkul of the Institute for Population and Social Research, who is writing a book on sexual violence.

"The latest draft predominantly focuses on body and bipolarity of gender and ignores the feelings of the victims," adds Pongsathorn Chanluean, director of MPlus, a project for HIV protection among men who have sex with men.

"The lawmakers need to place more emphasis on people with variations of gender otherwise the laws themselves can cause violence against people."

ABUSE ON THE RISE

- In 2009, children and women suffered violence at an average rate of three persons an hour, a shocking 228 per cent increase compared to the statistics compiled in the previous year, according to the Public Health Ministry.

- Two-thirds of the cases of violence reported to the One Stop Crisis Centre involve sexual abuse.