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Friends of Women Foundation manager Jadet Chaowilai told a press conference yesterday that his agency received about 1,500 complaints and calls for help per year, of these 70 per cent were domestic violence.

He pointed out that nearly half of such domestic violence was mental abuses from husbands having affairs and causing the families to fall apart.

He said that his agency had helped women in the past year to convince the courts that having minor wives or affairs was a mental abuse that needed legal protection for the damaged.

Jadet said they eyed on proposing an amendment of Domestic Violence Victim Protection Act 2007's 5th article to punish those failed to inform authorities about domestic violence that they witnessed by cutting rights such as medical treatments.

They also wished to amend Criminal Code's 276th article about sexual violence that did not cover rape victims aged over 18.

He said the Domestic Violence Victim Protection Act 2007 had been in effect for a year but the Justice Ministry reported that only 54 cases were submitted because police, who received complaints, still viewed domestic violence as a personal matter. Social Development and Human Security Ministry's public relations on legal aspects was still small while assignments of responsible officials and action protocol were still slow, he said. Media also had old attitudes of treating women like sex objects, he said adding that the violence against women and children needed cooperation from all agencies to make it a national agenda.

Jadet said that from the year 2002-2007, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation had launched a pilot project for alcohol-free communities in 10 provinces (Chiang Mai, Amnat Charoen, Samut Prakan, Chumphon, Lamphun, Surin, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Samut Sakhon and Bangkok).

It was found that the Domestic Violence Victim Protection Act 2007 and the Alcohol Control Act 2008 that limited the areas allowed for drinking and alcohol selling had helped reduced factors to create violence. He cited another study on domestic violence that 70-80 per cent of male drinkers had attacked children and women by physical and sexual assaults.