Thailand launches One-Stop Crisis Centre to respond to violence against women
Date:
Authors: Montira Narkvichien and Supatra Putananusorn
Bangkok - The launch of Thailand’s pioneering One-Stop Crisis Centre by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on 9 April reinforces the continuing efforts to respond to and prevent violence against women and girls after Thailand joined UN Women’s newest global initiative, COMMIT.
UN Women Regional Director Roberta Clarke (wearing black) congratulates Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at the launch of the 1,300 mobile units. Photo credit: UN Women/Montira Narkvichien
The One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) includes a hotline managed by trained staff, a network of 22,000 crisis centres around the country and 1,300 mobile units to access communities nationwide. The crisis centres will receive complaints, transfer cases and coordinate responses between Government agencies. Despite existing response services, multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms remain a challenge. The mobile units will raise public awareness, and also proactively lead interventions in communities where complaints have been received.
Forty one per cent of ever-partnered women in Bangkok and 47 per cent in rural Nakhonsawan reported having experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner.[i]
The OSCCs will be administered by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. They will be fully computerized and able to track specific cases or survivors’ rehabilitation programmes. They will also feature a database that will eventually provide a snapshot of the true extent of violence reporting and the demand for social assistance, while collecting information on the OSCC’s use, to ensure improvements in their responsiveness and effectiveness.
The national initiative will respond to violence by providing immediate social assistance to children, women, elderly and persons with disabilities who confront problems such as human trafficking, gender-based violence, child labour and teenage pregnancy. It will also play a preventive role by raising public awareness and focusing on rehabilitation.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra stands with Government and staff to celebrate the launch of the One-Stop Crisis Center. Photo credit: UN Women/Montira Narkvichien
On International Women’s Day this year, Thailand joined UN Women’s newest global initiative “COMMIT” to end violence against women and girls, becoming one of the first countries in Asia-Pacific to set out concrete steps to tackle this pandemic. Thailand committed to reinforce national efforts to protect women’s rights to live free of violence.
Roberta Clarke, Regional Director of UN Women Asia Pacific and Representative in Thailand, attended the launch together with Government ministers, 700 Government staff, civil society organizations, women’s NGOs as well as the diplomatic corps.
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