Plan International, UNESCO and Mahidol University partnered to conduct a year-long study involving 30 secondary schools in five Thai provinces, with over 2,000 students sharing their experiences. Findings from the report were released on 4 December 2013 at a stakeholders’ consultation in Bangkok.
This consultation aimed to present and review the findings of the study, to generate recommendations, and to identify roles and responsibilities of public and private organizations as well as international development partners in preventing such bullying in Thailand.
The consultation was attended by 45 people of various sectors including government and non-governmental bodies working on education, public health, mental health, academia, and LGBT advocacy. Embassies with current programs on related topics also participated.
The consultation began with a review of the research findings on the nature, scale, impact and motivations of bullying targeting high school students who are or are perceived to be transgender or same-sex attracted in Thailand.
In the press release issued in advance of the meeting, Plan International (Thailand) Country Director Maja Cubarrubia said, “Thailand is widely known as a place with tolerance and respect of people from all walks of life including the LGBT community.” However, despite that, she says, “LGBT youth and those that are believed to be LGBT here are suffering from bullying at schools, just like everywhere else in the world.”
Nearly one-third (30.9%) of self-identified LGBT students reported having experienced physical abuse, 29.3% reported verbal abuse, and 24.4% reported being victims of sexual harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Around two-thirds of victims said they did not report these incidents or even talk about them with anyone.
The report paints a troubling picture of the impact of this bullying has on teens. Nearly one-quarter (23%) of those bullied because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression were depressed, as compared to only 6% of those that had not been bullied at all. This depression can lead to self-harm. Most alarmingly, seven percent of those bullied because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression reported having attempted suicide in the past year.
“The effects of bullying clearly can be traumatic and long-lasting,“said Justine Sass, the Chief of UNESCO Bangkok’s HIV Prevention and Health Promotion Unit in the press release. “We are simply failing to support these young people’s right to Education for All in a healthy, safe learning environment.”
Many participants from the government sector had little prior exposure to sexual diversity issues in a human rights framework prior to the consultation. Few agencies that had sent representatives had policies specifically on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues, as these issues had not previously been recognized as requiring remedial measures.
The representatives identified some existing mechanisms they thought helped alleviate the problem. For example, student councils were thought to be able to safeguard children’s rights, provide remedial measures and intervene in bullying when present. Some sexual diversity NGOs operate hotlines that can provide psychosocial support to bullying victims. Likewise, the Department of Mental Health operates hospitals and clinics that can provide assistance to victims. The Rights and Liberties Protection Department under the Ministry of Justice has arranged activities in schools to promote acceptance of difference and mutual respect between students. NGOs working on children’s issues, for example the Children’s Foundation and Plan International, operate generic school safety programs. However, existing services and measures, such as the mental health outreach to schools by the Department of Mental Health and the sexuality education approved by the Office of Basic Education Commission still have limited emphasis on sexual diversity and sensitivity issues.
The stakeholder consultation led to a series of recommendations:
1. Research. More research and statistics should be made available on LGBT issues. In particular, representatives suggested conducting additional research in the context of juvenile observation and protection centers, boarding schools and schools following different religious traditions. Many educational agencies requested LGBT good practice guidelines.
2. Organizational capacity building. There should be trainings on sexual diversity issues in all relevant sectors to disseminate up-to-date understanding and higher awareness of these issues.
3. LGBT empowerment and life skills building. It was suggested that LGBT children be provided both counselling support and proactive empowerment programs to be able to stand up for bullying and safeguard their rights.
4. Advocacy and public campaigns. Representatives called for advocacy on societal and community levels. For example, the representatives suggested building awareness in local government administration bodies. In the education sector, it was recommended that advocacy be carried with the senior management of the Ministry of Education. There should be public campaigns to address existence of LGBT and to reduce myths and biases against them. Advocacy was also recommended to establish policies promoting a quota for LGBT personnel in governmental agencies, particularly in education.
5. Funding. Clear allocation and financial support for research and implementation of LGBT-related projects is needed in both non-government and government sectors.
6. Suggested short-termed methods to alleviate the LGBT bullying in schools:
a. School councils comprising teachers and students (or student councils comprising only students) focusing on bullying prevention and alleviation measures for bullying victims
b. Peer support to prevent bullying and provide alleviation to victims
c. Increased number of guidance teachers and psychologists in schools would help
d. Improved school monitoring and evaluation systems with specific indicators on violence and bullying
e. Improved sexuality education explicitly addressing sexual diversity issues from a supportive point of view, and life skills trainings
f. Guidelines and strategic plans for student safety and promotion of Child Rights Act
g. Remedial measures for bullying victims through One-Stop Crisis Centers
h. Empowerment training for LGBT students through sexual diversity NGOs.
7. Mass media. There should be more media content and coverage on sexual diversity issues, including portrayal of positive role models of successful LGBT individuals.
8. Integration. It was suggested that LGBT issues should be integrated into all sectors, particularly agencies working with youth and teaching personnel. Multisectoral collaboration was seen as crucial. For example, the education sector requested concrete documentation from the mental health sector about the depathologization of same-sex attraction.
9. Legal and policy reform. The safety and social acceptance of LGBT students should be improved by providing safe toilets that are acceptable to transgender students, and permitting students to wear uniforms in accordance with their gender identity. The participants noted that clear regulations from the Ministry of Education were needed to achieve this.
At the end of the consultation, agreement was made to establish a working group to support action in the above areas. The objectives of the working group are 1) to identify measures and policies to reduce violence and bullying in schools; 2) identify ways to empower LGBT students; 3) to develop, gather and disseminate information about sexual diversity issues. The recommended stakeholders for the working group were representatives from the education sector, mental health sector, academia, sexual diversity, children’s rights, and sexuality education NGOs. Some of the consultation participants agreed to join the working group. UNESCO and Plan Thailand agreed to provide support for the working group and to establish measures to take forward this work in 2014-15.
For the media release, please view:
- Details on the study as well as a complete agenda (in English and in Thai) for the consultation meeting.
- Full Media Advisory (in English and in Thai)
For press inquiries or additional information, please contact:
UNESCO Bangkok Media and Communications Officer Noel Boivin at n.boivin@unesco.org
or
Plan International Thailand’s Communications and PR Manager Apiradee Chappanapong at Apiradee.Chappanapong@plan-international.org
or
The principal investigator of the study at Mahidol University and Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies, Dr. Pimpawun Boonmongkon at pimpawun@gmail.com or co-investigator Timo T. Ojanen, Mahidol University, at timotapaniojanen@gmail.com