Questions/Answers

Thailand became the 55th UN member, has adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and has been a party to 7 of 9 international human rights treaties, leading to an obligation to comply with and adopt the principles of human rights contained in the Constitution. Accordingly, provisions regarding assistance to injured parties in criminal cases are prescribed in section 245 of the Constitution (A.D. 1997). Subsequently, Thailand has promulgated the Damages for the Injured Persons and Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Cases Act (A.D. 2001), and the Act (No. 2) (A.D. 2016) to provide assistance to victims suffering loss of lives, as well as bodily and/or mental damage. Over the past 10 years (2007-2012), few were aware of the assistance rendered, requests for assistance constituted less than 20% of complaints (cases related to life, body, and sex) lodged to the Royal Thai Police. Also, delayed remedies provided resulted as only one centralized deliberation center existed, culminating in the government's services failing to fully assist the people. Accordingly, the government specified a policy in the 2018 Country Reform Plan regarding the reform of the justice process designed to administer justice to achieve transparency, convenience, promptness, equality, thoroughness, fairness and discrimination-free treatment. By 2021, no less than 40% of agencies concerned with the justice system must have implemented measures to protect the rights of victims and the accused to ensure easy and equal access. The goals include introducing innovation or technology for transparency, convenience, and promptness; as well as the adoption of no less than 50% of the number of key steps, and no less than 50% of the measures designed to protect or facilitate access for children, women, the elderly, the underprivileged. Therefore, the main objective is to ensure that crime victims have access to the justice system.

Innovations in numerous areas have been adopted through reforms of mechanisms and technology for providing assistance and remedies. Relevant laws have been amended, while staffs have been working proactively in conjunction with the police to notify victims of their rights and accept requests. The arrangements include: a free 24-hour Justice Hotline, a Justice Care Policy, an integrated 24-hour victim assistance system, The deliberation of request have been executed through decentralization nationwide. The people have also been encouraged to participate in disseminating information and notify victims of their rights. These arrangements are subjected to public criticism to achieve efficiency enhancement annually.

In line with SDG16, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD) aims to promote equal access to justice through creating awareness among people via numerous media. Other initiatives include extending service time to 24/7; collaborating with the people's sector through Community Justice Centers to notify crime victims of their rights; as well as cooperating with frontline government agencies by providing remedial assistance, stipulating relevant provisions in the law, and specifying in MOUs with agencies concerned. (16.3). The Financial Assistance Office for Victims and the Accused in Criminal Cases under the RLPD functions to provide remedial assistance to crime victims and the accused nationwide, and put a system, mechanism, and standards in place to achieve efficiency and transparency, together with a complaint management system to redress problems and conflicts (16.6). Service users’ satisfaction is measured each month to provide feedback for recommendations, improvements, and service development (16.7). Information is disseminated continuously through the RLPD website, and applications (16.10), resulting in crime victims being aware of and gain access to their rights, as well as their receiving more remedial assistance‘(77.36%). Additionally, the assistance deliberation period has been reduced from 108 days to 90 days, 79 days, 52 days, and 21 days presently.

There are 3 dimensions to promote sustainability: (1) socially: ensure that crime victims have access to the justice system promptly, thoroughly, and efficiently; (2) economically. The remedial financial aid partially covers the costs of living and future careers. This proves that crime victims will receive assistance and remedies as per human rights principles; and (3) environmentally, human rights defenders who call out for rights relating to lands, communities, and natural resources and the environment, and injured or deceased are eligible to receive assistance and remedy by the state to ensure that those champions of the cause will not be abandoned.

Previously, centralization of power caused delays. A primary remedial assistance involves essential items such as medical, funeral, and rehabilitation expenses, delays in providing remedial assistance would add to the plights of those suffering the brunt thereof as they do not have essential financial means. This results in their borrowing money from other sources. Therefore, deliberation has been decentralized across 76 provinces by integration of work with provincial justice offices to serve as the Secretariat of the Provincial Subcommittee on the Provision of Assistance to Victims and the Accused in Criminal Cases. The Office provides financial assistance to victims and accused. The RLPD acts as a focal agency in ensuring the alignment of measures, mechanisms, guidelines and operational standards, as well as conducting close supervision on a monthly basis, categorizing provinces as green (having passed 80% of the criteria), yellow (having passed 60-79% of the criteria), red (having passed less than 60% of the criteria) to expedite operations. Other network partners such as all 1,482 police stations, all provincial prisons/correctional institutions, and Damrongtham Centres work in collaboration in notifying rights locally Information technology has also been applied to support operations and enhancement of access, and to facilitate prompt services.

Remedial assistance is founded on the principle of equal assistance without discrimination regarding sex, age, status, and other reasons as set out in the law, facilitating assistance and requiring that officials provide facilities for those abovementioned vulnerable groups, and apply international standards to ensure comprehensive assistance. The assistance is provided for victims in sex-related cases. Statistics of all criminal cases in which the assistance was provided in the 2018-2020 period is as follows: 6,587 victims in cases related to sexual offences (175 million baht, 17.96%); 5,261 elderly people (160 million baht, 14.34%) and 17,512 women (482 million baht, 47.74%).

Thailand promulgated a law providing assistance to crime victims, being the first nation in ASEAN, since 2002. As of 2021, the state has provided assistance to 176,002 people, totaling 9,500 million baht, and has developed an integrated victim assistance mechanism up to international standards, including: (1) access to justice and fair treatment, i.e. notification of rights, legal assistance, and litigation-related assistance; (2) restitution by the perpetrator, and exercising the right to file a lawsuit for compensation as per the Criminal Procedural Code, Section 44/1, and the Civil and Commercial Code, Section 420 on Mediation and Dispute Resolution; (3) compensation by the state as per the Damages for the Injured Persons and Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Cases Act, B.E.2544, together with coordinating referrals to other legal arrangements, such as remedies for tourists, and public disaster victims; and (4) other types of assistance, such as witness protection, education, occupation, and labor, to mitigate past repercussions whereby assistance for perpetrators was prioritized, while the victims were neglected. The state has provided remedies to create confidence in Thailand’s justice system internationally, and achieve victims’ awareness of their rights, and gaining of access thereto.

During 2013 - 2015, the RLPD coordinated with the police together with the development of the information technology systems (OCIPA), and setting up of remedial centers to proactively notify crime victims of their rights and receive assistance requests, as well as station staff members at provincial police stations nationwide. The assistance request ratio to reported criminal cases was less than 20% prior to the implementation of the policy, skyrocketing to 85.52% in 2015. The Office for the Protection of Rights and Liberties, Regions 1-4, and 19 Subcommittee on Assistance Deliberation for Victims in Criminal Cases were also set up. During 2016–2018, the Damages and Compensation Act (A.D. 2001) was amended as the Act No. 2 (A.D. 2016), whereby officers are to notify crime victims regarding their rights to receive the state compensation while the application acceptance jurisdiction has been extended to other agencies. The number of assisted cases increased from the 2013-2015, totaling 34,720 individuals, equivalent to 1,718 million baht in monetary terms – i.e. an average of 570 million baht per year, 35% higher than the figure in the previous 3 years in terms of remedial budget allocated. During 2019 –2021, a comprehensive decentralization process has been implemented by upgrading the Rights and Liberties Protection Offices 1–4 into the Provincial Justice Offices. Provincial Subcommittees on Assistance Deliberation for Remuneration for Victims and Compensation and Expenses to the Accused in Criminal Cases were set up to accelerate the process, and IT systems have been further developed connecting the entire systems to achieve real-time processing to extend direct bank transfer arrangements. The state has also proactively provided integrated all-day assistance as per the Justice Care Policy and has set up a monitoring and evaluation system through an IT system, classifying provinces with green, yellow, red designations to expedite operations monthly.

Problems/obstacles in operation and solutions thereto are as follows: (1) operationally, a Memorandum of Rights Notification (Sor Chor Ngor.1/03) has been designed for investigating officers to summarize the situation and analyze as to whether or not the victim(s) is/are involved in the commission of the offence in lieu of a time-consuming investigation summary; (2) policy-wise, the deliberation power is decentralized to 76 provinces across the country; and (3) innovations: IT has been introduced to support the work to reduce the use of paper, as well as the implementation of online meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Numerous innovations have been invented including (1) issuing an assistance deliberation decentralization policy with the provincial justice offices to support the operation; (2) work proactively by establishing an MOU with the police extending the notification of rights and request acceptance to other agencies and people’s sector; (3) developing mechanisms and various measures to proactively provide remedial assistance, including 24-hour integrated assistance as per the Justice Care Policy, a free all-day justice hotline, and providing specific assistance to vulnerable groups as stipulated in laws; (4) developing IT to support the remedial process conveniently, promptly, and involving real-time processing.

The aforementioned innovations have been developed or inspired by various nations as follows: (1) the decentralization and coordination with investigators are based on guidelines from Japan; (2) the all-day Justice Hotline inspired by a line-based service in the Netherlands and the comprehensive crime victim assistance unit is based on Swedish and Norwegian experiences; and (3) the IT system to support the processing of statistical data in issuing policy proposals and working based on in-depth statistical analysed in line with a US prototype. Thailand has adjusted various models in accordance with the Thai context, and has continually been improving on it.

All the following steps are supported by The OCIPA– (1) analyze trends of human rights violation; (2) exhibit overall real-time statistics of assistance provision as geographical maps; (3) provide processing support for policy issuance (BI) to support proposal submission to the government and executives of the Ministry of Justice, and the Committee for the overall nation-wide development; and (4) link information to other relevant agencies through the DXC system of the Office of Judicial Affairs, involving 26 agencies connected nation-wide.

The results of remedial remuneration and compensation for crime victims and the accused have been presented with an award for the development of excellent service (ranked in the ‘good’ category) from the Office of the Public Sector Development (OPDC) in 2017. The results were based on the decentralization of assistance deliberation power to 19 committees by province to decentralize assistance deliberation from the originally centralized center during the 2015-2018 period. Subsequently, power decentralization has been extended to cover all 76 provinces by the appointment of provincial sub-committees on renumeration deliberation for injured persons, and compensation and expenses for the accused defendants in criminal cases, with provincial governors or designated deputy governors as chairpersons since August 1, 2019. 19 pilot provinces serve as mentors, providing advice and transferring knowledge to newly decentralized provinces, with lessons-learned arrangements from the previously participating provinces to the new ones in a common knowledge exchange framework. This also includes demonstration of sub-committee meetings, involving participants from all 76 provinces to learn from real experience in providing assistance to crime victims.

The answer is in 7a.

1) Personnel (1) Provincial Sub-Committee made up of relevant agencies as a composition (2) Officers, Secretariat of the Sub-Committees, Provincial justice and Provincial Justice officers,. 2) Financially, the state provides the required budget as follows: (1) An annual remedial budget of 400-600 million baht; (2) Administrative budget items such as meeting expenses, media production costs, and administrative support costs, totaling approximately 23 million baht per year. 3) Cooperation (MOUs) has been forged with various agencies. In 2021, the service satisfaction level is 97.19%.

The Committee on Damages for the Injured Persons and Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Cases, constituting an important mechanism in charge of assistance deliberation, policy and approach formulation, and operation supervision and monitoring. Meanwhile, Provincial Sub-committees act as vehicles to drive forward the work locally while the Office of Damages for the Injured persons and Compensation and Expenses for the Accused in Criminal Cases serves as the focal agency driving work nationwide, and provincial justice offices functioning as provincial-level operational units. In addition, the office also coordinates referral arrangements in other areas.

Si

At the outset, the RLPD in collaboration with the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University started to conduct a research to amend the law in 2005. In 2015, the RLPD in conjunction with Rangsit University, studied approaches to improving the efficiency of victim remedies in Thailand’s justice process. The findings of these two studies were applied in the amendment of the Act No. 2 (A.D. 2016). A follow-up and monitoring research study of law enforcement was conducted by Dhurakij Pundit University in 2018, the evaluation method of which being both quantitative (descriptive statistics), and qualitative.

The indicators are divided into the following: 1. Remedial assistance to victims of crimes 1) Quantitative indicators (output): no fewer than 7,760 victims receive an assistance 2) Qualitative Indicators (outcome): no less than 85% of victims exhibits service satisfaction. 3) Time-based indicators (time): no less than 88% of victims receive services within 21 days according to the operational standards. 4) Outcome indicators (results): Thailand enjoys a good image with respect to crime victim assistance by international standards. 2. The implementation impacts are consistent with SDG No. 16 3. Evaluation tools: interview forms, questionnaires, group discussions, and small group meetings.

In aggregate, the number of individuals requesting remedial assistance provided to crime victims from 2002 to 2021 totals 163,390 petitions for victim assistance in criminal cases, 161,647 of which were authorized, tantamount to 5,364,632,620.04 baht. The average 6-year satisfaction level from a survey of the service users covering the 2016-2021 period was 94.96%. The actual number of remedial assistance cases is conditional on the victim abuse situation each year. In the main, the number of victims in criminal cases over the past 3 years exhibits a downward trend – a positive sign for the country’s image as a whole. This represents the country’s good image as it means that the members of the public experience a safer social environment. Notwithstanding, a mechanism for providing remedial assistance has been developed to achieve greater convenience, promptness, and efficiency. This includes a deliberation power decentralization policy across all 76 provinces; developing information technology systems to cover all the steps; putting in place a proactive, integrated 24-hour victim assistance policy in line with international standards; preparing a distinctive deliberation guideline; and reducing the deliberation period from 108 days to 90 days, 79 days, 52 days and 21 days as of now.

Creating a functional mechanism based on a partnership involving relevant government agencies and the people’s sector: (1) Studying domestic and international data/information that has incorporated suggestions or studies from different countries by cooperating with educational institutions, in particular, Mahidol University. A work by Associate Professor Dr. Srisombat Chokprajakchat is based on documentary and empirical studies of crime victims, rights and remedial assistance. A major work is “A Study Project to Analyze Guidelines for Establishing Agencies Responsible for System Supervision, Specific and Comprehensive Assistance for Victims of Crime: the Case of Sweden – a Project for the Development of Mechanisms and Crime Victim Assistance Proposals to Meet International Standards in Support of Entry into the ASEAN Community. The study aims to formulate guidelines, measures, mechanisms to provide remedial assistance to victims in criminal cases. (2) Coordinating with relevant agencies joining the provincial committees/subcommittees in issuing policies or deliberating on providing assistance across matters, and coordinating with the private sector for IT system development. (3) Cooperating with the government sectors and the people's sector to participate in the rights notification, receiving requests, and providing primary assistance in giving crime victims access to their rights, as well as disseminating information on the public's rights.

Providing remedial assistance to crime victims with cutting-edge proactive innovations geared towards convenience, promptness and efficiency involves the people’s participation in making members of the public aware of their rights through Community Justice Centers, Dispute Resolution Centers with networks of volunteers in the assistance process. When a crime occurs, justice volunteers in each area will inform victims of their rights and channels for seeking remedies and access to other rights in the justice system in accordance with international standards, such as legal aids, and lodging claims for damages from offenders, etc. This is in line with SDG No. 16.3 – “the rule of law and equal access to justice”.

Important lessons learned include: Firstly, promoting Thailand’s good image in protecting the rights of crime victims with the same standardized guideline for remedial assistance deliberation throughout the country in accordance with the current situation. Secondly, a series of forums have been organized to gather opinions. Policy-level agencies have also participated therein. This has forged common goals for improvement and development, while creating cooperation between the government at the policy and operational levels, and civil society. Thirdly, innovation development is brought in to support and provide remedial assistance to crime victims or injured persons as per international standards in cooperation with the government, the private sector, and the people. Fourthly, a continued development plan is required to implement assistance services at the provincial level, as well as encourage the people's sector to participate. Fifthly, proposals for revising the law(s) aimed at extending assistance to comprehensively cover victims, the accused, and defendants who are victims in criminal cases. Other developments include the extension of the application submission period from 1 year to 2 years, reducing the number of steps required, and an electronic system introduced to facilitate the application process through multiple channels.