At times I read things that the NLA (National Legislative Assembly) of Thailand do, and I cannot help but to get so angry and want to beat the living shit out of each and every member on the panel. This is mainly the rape laws that pertain to minors aged 13 – 15 years of age. (more on this in a moment, please bare with me)
And then other times I think they are a normal, well educated and completely rationale functioning assembly.
Only 2 years ago, the NLA finally amended rape laws in Thailand. This included:
Finally, forced sex on a wife by a husband would be spousal rape. Before a husband couldn’t be charged with this offence as it was ‘his right’ to have sex even if his wife didn’t want to. This law still needs a lot of fine tuning though as it is a hard slog still for the wife if she wants to press charges.
Also they finally recognised rape by a male on a male, and also males raping transgender “ladyboys, katoeys” people. Before being raped anally was not rape but ‘conduct of sexual obscenity.’
So back in 2007 these were very small baby steps in the right direction for once. But just recently some government agencies have complained the new laws have been proving too hard to prosecute the rapists and want to return to the old laws, male on male sex would again be ‘conduct of sexual obscenity’ but the penalties would be the same as the rape laws.
These people in these agencies, who want to do this, they need to be bent over a barrel and rogered with a stick containing razor blades. It sounds to me like they are complaining as the people who are meant to uphold the law, will actually have to do some real work.
Now the good news pertaining to the rape laws of minors.
A legal amendment has been proposed that would see heavier penalties for gang rapes and other sex crimes committed against young victims. Penalties include life imprisonment in the event of a gang rape or if a weapon is used.
The amendment would also help protect 13 - 15year old victims from forced marriages with their attackers arranged by parents of the latter to avoid criminal penalties - a loophole in the existing Criminal Code.
The amendment proposes the Family and Juvenile Court thoroughly scrutinise such marriages and grant final approval only after it is satisfied victims will be treated as real wives.
The amendment, which was proposed by the Council of State and will be submitted for Cabinet consideration on Tuesday, also suggests another loophole be voided, one that allows an offender to claim ignorance of a victim's age.
The maximum sentence for rape of a boy or girl younger than 15 regardless of consent will also lengthened, to four to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of Bt80,000 to Bt400,000. If the victim is younger than 13, the maximum sentence would be four to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of Bt100,000 to Bt400,000.
Offenders would also be subject to life imprisonment if they gang raped boys or girls under 13 or used a weapon during the individual rape of a young victim.
(I am sorry but I forgot the keep the link for the story and cannot find it. It is from either the Bangkok Post or The Nation Newspaper)
Now this amendment is well over due. As it states, 13 – 15 year olds have been forced into marrying their rapists. Parents will agree to the rapist’s compensation and charges will be dropped. It is sickening that any country in the world would allow this. And parents who take compensation from rapists should be executed; they are worthless pieces of shit.
A foreign cun* has used this law before. He is in Pattaya I still believe now, has been arrested around 6 times in Thailand for things relating to minors, paid ‘fines’ to the people who are meant to protect the children and left on bail. While on bail he was then convicted of rape of an 11 and 12 year old girl, sentenced to jail but has appealed and was again out on bail. And not so long ago, less than a year was again arrested for suspected offences with an 8 year old boy. Again he is out on bail.
This loophole has also been used by Thais, a well to do Thai raped a 12 year old girl, and the mum went to police. An agreement was made, a false village wedding and of course some money and no charges were laid.
What really fucks me off about this amendment is, ‘The Family and Juvenile Court thoroughly scrutinise such marriages and grant final approval only after it is satisfied victims will be treated as real wives.’
Oh please, how in god’s name could a rapist ever be evaluated that he would treat the “victim” as a “wife?” This is still a get out clause for rapists, especially well off assholes. “Oh, yes your honor. I promise you I am going to treat my 13 year old bride with love, respect, dignity,” they cannot be serious, can they? But it is Thailand.
Parents who want to marry kids off to the attackers should be sterilized, be placed in a room and raped so they know the feeling of degradation, humiliation, dirtiness, and god knows what else a rape victim must feel.
Also removing the ‘ignorance claim’ is needed. Most Thai girls look younger than they are. Some Thai girls just don’t look 16 (Thailand’s legal age of consent. From 16-17 you must have permission from the parents of the child if you are having sexual relations) Nearly all Thai girls I know that are 15, 16 or 17 I can truthfully say they all look much younger than they are and in no way could mistake them for being 18 or older. Many times I have had early 20 year olds tell me their age and I refuse to believe them until I see their ID card. I could never believe a person claiming they couldn’t tell the girl was 13 years old.
I am all for this new amendment, but it needs to be airtight, no chance of a loophole. Again this is a small step forward in the right direction.
Kids are the most precious commodity on this great thing we call earth. They need to be nurtured, protected and be able to trust us older generation. Kids are mostly so innocent and at times too trusting, but that is what kids do. They place faith in older people, supposedly wise from years on this earth.
The very people who take this trust, and then commit heinous crimes against these kids, they deserve nothing less than to have their very existence on this earth, stopped. Maybe death is too good for them and a term of their natural life in solitary confinement would be more fitting.
Thailand still has a long way to go in many aspects of being a democratic society. There are still so many human violations that take place, labour laws are disgraceful, children are forced to work in sweat shops and other seedy fields, minimum wages are a joke (150 Baht a day in some provinces.)
People say Thailand is a young democracy, since 1932. To me that is a fair bit of time to try and get things is good order. The coups and all the other shenanigans that have plagued Thai politics over those years to date, haven’t helped obviously.
But to me the biggest thing holding the amazing country of Thailand back, it is simply the corruption that seems to be embedded into society and that Thai people just accept. It is written about constantly; Hi-So Thais are charged and then flee Thailand to Cambodia, Laos and other countries.
A zero tolerance on the blatant corruption (all countries have it, most well hidden) has to be enforced, how this is done when the highest people meant to stop it are maybe at its forefront, is a task I would not even begin to know where to start at.
Okay, I am sorry I am ranting. Anyway. Some small steps in the right direction but there are many more that need to be taken in many other directions. Most of the time I see it as the old adage of, ‘two steps forward, three steps backwards.’
Brunty
3 comments:
No wonder you went on a rant about this Brunty. The fact that we live in the 21st century and this is supposedly a developed democracy just makes these types of glaring human rights issues even more hard to comprehend.
Like you I was especially incensed when I read "Family and Juvenile Court thoroughly scrutinize such marriages and grant final approval only after it is satisfied victims will be treated as real wives." How in the hell could anyone in their right mind ever rule that a rapist will treat their victim with the love, dignity and caring that a wife is deserving of?
Small baby steps in the right direction though and we can only hope that they don't as you say "take 3 steps back".
Hear hear, Brunty! You're spot on and I only wish that all men had your protective nature toward children, women and others who can be taken advantage of and abused.
Hey Steve, November 2011 the return, it will go by quickly.
I couldn’t help the rant, a lot of the time I just ignore many things but sometimes I have to write them down and let others know what I am thinking and then get feedback on their insights.
I like you was just so gob smacked, mystified that any court or person could agree a rapist would treat a victim as a wife. This is ludicrous.
I can only hope for 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.
Amy, I am no ‘snag’ but I hope that the majority of males believe that children are precious, and also no male has the right to rape a woman even if she is his wife.
Any person who deceives a child in such monstrous ways, doesn’t deserve the right to breathe air, I believe.
All people, no matter our skin colour, our language deserve basic human rights. It disgusts me that some countries still allow child brides, as young as 7 or 8. These countries need to be overthrown. It makes me feel physically ill when I read another horror story of a child bride being raped and beaten by a grown cowardly man.
Sadly too many of us turn a blind eye to the fact (I included) and just live our lives as the problem is too big.
It is our governments that need to cut all ties with such countries but this would never happen as it involves money, trade and jobs, these are much more important than the safety of innocent children.
I am ranting again.
Thanks for dropping by
Brunty
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