Even though Thai law is comprehensive in criminalizing acts of domestic violence against women as well as providing legal protections and remedies to victims, there are still problems regarding the enforcement of the law, especially during the investigation process. Generally in the case of domestic violence, the competent officials (e.g., the police) see it as a private issue or an internal family affair that should not be interfered with. Thus, they usually try to reconcile and conduct mediation between the offender and the victim for them to be able to live together again. As a result, victims are not aware of their rights and instead are discouraged from pursuing any legal actions that could, in turn, cause the cycle of domestic violence to continue.

The relevant legislation on domestic violence in Thailand is as follows:

General rules

Victims of Domestic Violence Protection Act B.E. 2550 (2007)(DVA)

This legislation was enacted to eliminate domestic violence in compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Promotion of Development and Protection of Family Institution Act B.E. 2562 (2019) (FIA)

This law is prescribed to revoke and replace the DVA and it was specified to take effect on 20 August 2019. However, the effective date has been revised and postponed indefinitely and the FIA will take effect once a royal decree has been issued. The reason for the postponement is that the relevant officials, agencies and courts still lack the required knowledge and expertise, and they are not prepared to comply with the new rules, systems and procedures pursuant to the FIA. Thus, the DVA is currently enforceable.

The main reasons for enacting the FIA to replace the DVA are that the DVA has prescribed domestic violence as a separate criminal offense that overlaps with the general criminal offenses. This prescription of a separate criminal offense is not in line with the objective of the law that seeks to allow the offender to be rehabilitated rather than be punished. Moreover, the system, process, duties and power of the relevant officials under the DVA are also not in line with the current developments of domestic violence cases.^[1]

The Juvenile and Family Court and Procedure Act B.E. 2553 (2010)

This is the law on the procedural process of the juvenile and family court, which is the court that has jurisdiction over domestic violence cases ("Juvenile and Family Court").

Criminal Code

This law prescribes criminal offenses, including, but not limited to, offenses related to domestic violence cases (e.g.,bmsoffense against body, sexual offense and offense against liberty).

Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2560 (2017)

This law prescribes that children, youth, women, older people, persons with disabilities, indigent persons and underprivileged persons will be protected from violence or unfair treatment.

The Thai legal system is a civil law system that does not recognize the principle of binding judicial precedent. Thus, no controlling case law would affect future court rulings. 

The Juvenile and Family Court is the main court that addresses domestic violence cases. However, pursuant to the DVA, if the offense of domestic violence is also an offense under other laws that have a higher maximum punishment, the litigation will proceed at the court that has jurisdiction over such offense.^[2] For example, if the act committed includes both domestic violence and attempted murder, the criminal court or the provincial court, depending on the venue or the defendant's domicile, will have jurisdiction over such case.

The causes of action for domestic violence are quite broad, i.e., Section 4 of the DVA specifies that domestic violence includes any act done with the intention to or in a manner likely to cause harm to the body, mind or health of a family member or to exert coercion or immoral influence over a family member to wrongfully cause them to do, not to do or yield to any act, but not including an act done negligently.

Nevertheless, once the FIA becomes effective, the causes of action for domestic violence will be even broader, i.e., Section 4 of the FIA specifies that it includes any action that a family member commits against another family member with the intention to cause or that is in a manner likely to cause harm to the life, body, mind, health, freedom or reputation of a family member, or to compel or unduly influence a family member to unlawfully commit, refrain or accept any action.

There are also other causes of action pursuant to the Criminal Code, for example:

• bodily harm — whoever causes injury to the other person's body or mind^[3]
• offense against liberty — whoever compels the other person to do or not to do any act, or to suffer anything by putting him/her in fear of injury to life, body, liberty, reputation or property of him/her or another person, or who commits violence so that he/she does not do such act or suffer such thing^[4]
•  rape — whoever has sexual intercourse with another person who has the inability to resist by committing any act of violence or by causing such person to mistake himself/herself as another person^[5]