Sexual violence on the rise in Thai society

In the past five years, more than half of the victims were under the age of 18, 90 per cent of them raped repeatedly and one in every four cases was a gangrape victim, said researcher Kulapa Vajanasara from Mahidol University Institute for Population and Social Research.

The survey, covering reports published between 1958 and 2007, found that some 64 per cent of the articles were about sexual violence, while only 8 per cent were educational.

In the past decade, Thai newspapers published a total of 17,529 articles on sexrelated topics, including 6,638 were reports on rape cases; 4,612 on sexual violence; 2,022 on sexual hygiene; 1,662 on sex education and 797 on abortion.

"The data collected shows that in the past five years, 1,379 people were raped, of which 98.3 per cent were females. More than half or 58 per cent of the victims were under 18, and 93 per cent of them suffered continuous and repeated rapes mostly at the hands of their own family members," she said.

She added that one in four victims were ganged raped, and 16 per cent killed after being raped. Most rapists were people who were either higher in status, like teachers, or were powerful as relatives, like fathers or brothers of the victims, she said.

Kulapa explained that sexual violence was rising in Thai society but the reports did not reflect the real situation because media only focused on plain reportage instead of indepth analysis of the issue.

The researcher was speaking at the sexual health seminar organised by Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) yesterday.

ThaiHealth Sexual Health Promotion Programme manager Nataya Boonpakdee said the study results would be used to develop policies on sexual violence, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, which would be tabled at the National Health Assembly from December 11 to 13. This is the first time that this topic has become part of the national agenda, she added.