Under-reporting has posed a serious hindrance to women’s access to justice and is driven by a multiplicity of factors ranging from societal attitudes and institutionalised gender biases to the practical difficulties and complexities of navigating the Thai police and judicial systems. At a deeper level, the patriarchal structures underpinning Thai society tend to support the stigmatization of rape victims. The victims do not want to reveal their shamefulstories, blame themselves for what happened while society questions to what extent the victims “brought this upon themselves”, by what they wore, where they were and why they did not cry for help. Therefore, it is as if the burden should lie with the victims to prove that the incident was non-consensual.
Notwithstanding the low numbers of reporting, attrition deals with the issues that emerge once a victim decides to proceed with reporting rape. Indeed,the pioneering study on attrition by the Thailand Institute of Justice and UN WOMEN, reveals that attrition is one of the main bottlenecks in bringing real justice to rape victims[3].
Once cases enter the system, the first attrition point is the act of reporting rape. A common example of attrition occurs when victims fail to report within the 3-month timeframe as required by the Thai Criminal Code. In addition, the common practice of mediation and settlement encouraged by the police also results in cases not being reported. In many instances it has been reported that victims deliberately withdraw the case as they are treated with disrespect by the respective state or police officials, who may lack the necessary gender sensitivities and training when dealing with the victims.