New app for victims of sexual violence
Women who fall victim to sexual violence can now obtain counselling and seek help in private, according to the Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development.
The department’s Line Official account has opened up access to a web app called Peun Kobkrua (“Friends of the Family”) which provides information about women’s issues, domestic issues, state subsidies for new-borns, single parenting, teen pregnancies, workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Also available is a Line app through which victims of sexual violence can make contact with officials to ask for help or seek counselling, according to the department.
In serious cases, the victims may be referred to officials for medical attention or legal assistance.
Kusuma Phon-anu-udomsuk, director of the family affairs promotion division, said the Line app has been made user-friendly so that women who encounter sexual violence can receive help immediately. The app is also being further developed to offer similar assistance to victims with visual impairment.
Saranpat Anumatrachakit, director-general of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, said disabled women are among the victims of sexual assault, often committed by neighbours, relatives or even members of the family.
The women are often put under pressure to not make legal complaints against their attackers and in some cases, the police refuse to help them press charges against their abusers.
Ms Saranpat said a lot of disabled women were not educated about sex or did not receive any education at all. In many cases, their families labelled them as incompetent and thus did not bother pushing for their schooling. Thus, with little or no education, disabled women often lack professional skills and are left defenceless and vulnerable.
She said the Line app allows women who are both able-bodied and disabled to establish contact with state agencies under the Ministry Of Social Development And Human Security, which can then provide the necessary assistance in a timely manner.
Saowalak Thongkuay, a member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, noted a general rise in sexual harassment and assaults against women, children and the disabled during the Covid-19 pandemic, when people have been and are confined to their homes and live close to one another over an extended period of time.
Legal and social protection for the weak and the vulnerable need to be improved while the enforcement of the law against offenders must be toughened, she said.
The disabled in particular have been given rudimentary welfare that allows them to only “scrape by” under the law, Ms Saowalak said, before adding they have not been treated with dignity and equality.