The Royal Thai Police Office’s recent job opening for male-only inquiry officers is discriminatory and a violation against the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of which Thailand is a signatory, said Mrs Angkhana Nilapaichit, a member of the National Human Rights Commission.
She said that the NHRC had proposed that the Royal Thai Police Office recruit female inquiry officers to interrogate female victims of sexual offences, noting that not every police station has a female inquiry officer.
Feminist group has repeatedly demanded more female police officers to be assigned as inquiry officers to handle sexual offence cases arguing that female victims are more willing to talk female interrogators and tend to be less embarrassed compared to being grilled by male interrogators. Also, female interrogators are regarded as more suitable to question victimized children in child abuse cases.
Mrs Angkhana urged the government and the Royal Thai Police Office to attach more importance to the role of female inquiry officers and to increase the ratio of working women in government services.
