BUSAYAPA SRISOMPONG
Knowing full well the struggles of being an average woman, Busayapa helps those who have been even more unfortunate in life. During working hours, she’s a lawyer who protects the rights of migrants and marginalised people on the borders of Thailand — providing pro bono legal services to those faced with gender-based violence. In her free time, she works to combat gender-based violence in Thailand from the organisation she founded, called SHero.
“Being a woman, there are already challenges to bring legal procedures to a certain level [for abuse cases],” she explained. “If I’m able to solve problems for people who face more layers than that — for example, women who don’t have documents, who don’t live alone, who don’t have a career, who don’t have money, who have children and issues — I can find a way to make things softer for them.”
Working hard to defend the rights of the marginalised and going head to head with uncooperative policemen, Busayapa has often been called fussy and demanding, with people often asking why she even cares about defending these groups and their rights.
“When I show up to fight a case, they’ll go, ‘Not her again’, she said. It’s a challenge that probably happens to everyone who helps these people. When I studied law, I truly believed in the justice system. Since I started working, I’ve slowly stopped believing in it.”
Asked why she still keeps going if she’s losing trust in the justice system, Busayapa says that she believes more in the power of ordinary women empowering each other to create change. “I see that giving knowledge or empowering people in terms of knowledge of the law can [help],” she said. “Thai people have a culture of violence. When a case comes up, we can’t ask for help because people see it as normal. If you want to solve it, you have to fix the culture. You have to fix it with kids from the new generation. When I work with them, they have the knowledge to work with their own communities and empower them, then a network is created. One day, the culture of violence will disappear, or at least decline in later generations. I don’t hope for anything anymore with the older generation. Their boat has sailed. But with the new generation, the boat can still turn back. It’s something that [pushes me] to work with vulnerable groups.”