Foundation chairwoman Paveena Hongsakul yesterday disclosed the contents of the foundation’s annual report about the cases it worked on. She said serious crimes against vulnerable individuals – such as rape, domestic violence and human trafficking – were still major problems in Thailand.

Paveena said that from January 1 to December 21, the foundation received 9,157 distress calls. Some 1,540 of these related to domestic violence, while 939 involved battery (assault), 681 involved sexual assaults, and 176 related to incidents of human trafficking.

She said that 356 calls also involved people seeking justice, while 229 related to a missing person, 174 were about cases of online bullying, and 69 related to unjust employment.

Another 110 calls were from people seeking health advice, while 2,892 involved case consulting, and 1,899 dealt with other matters.

Paveena said that based on this year’s records, the number of domestic violence cases had doubled due to the prevalence of drug addiction, divorce and unplanned pregnancies in society.

She said the number of assault, forced detention, and other violence-related cases rose by 212 cases compared to the previous year, while rape and sexual harassment cases were up by 23.

She said the youngest rape victim was one year old, while the oldest victim was a 78-year-old woman.

The foundation received an average of two calls every day about rape cases.

Paveena said the human-trafficking problem had slightly improved this year because of strict government regulations and a crackdown on trafficking gangs. But the foundation still received calls for help on this issue – averaging about 15 cases per month.

The biggest problem in trafficking cases was young women deceived and lured into sex work in foreign countries such as Bahrain, South Korea and Malaysia.

“We would like to thank the police, officers from relevant agencies, the media, and all people who keep supporting our foundation’s work. With your assistance we can greatly help improve society,” she said.

People in 113,117 cases had been assisted by the foundation over its 17-year history, she said.