Doll eases ordeal for child sex victims

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017
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Doll eases ordeal for child sex victims

In a bid to ease child sex victims’ pain, Chiang Mai University’s Mass Communications Faculty has started a doll-making project.

The doll is not a cuddly type. It resembles a human body so that it is easier for young victims to communicate with investigators or psychologists about their sexual ordeals. 
Although police investigators and psychologists are on hand to help victims, their interviews can prove too painful to deal with. 
Aware of this problem, the faculty has launched the “Kindness and Bravery Doll” project to make dolls for the process. 
“We hope we don’t have to make so many dolls. We really hope sex crimes will not occur again,” the project’s manager Supannikar Chokpaiboon said. 
She said the project would go ahead to at the very least reduce the pain of victims. 
It is estimated that nearly 20,000 children are sexually assaulted every year in Thailand, or one victim every five minutes.
There is now relatively high demand for the dolls among police, as it proved effective in facilitating communications between victims and officials.
The “Kindness and Bravery Doll” project has been named one of the 28 Gen A 2016 “Empower Active Citizen” projects in Thailand. 
The Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the Do D Foundation and various companies have provided support to the projects to encourage the younger generation to make a better society. 
In Chiang Mai, a number of young people have joined the “Kindness and Bravery Doll” project by making dolls. 
“I’ve come here because I’ve realised that it’s the duty of not just some people, but everyone to create a safe and pleasant society,” Pisit Intarasiripong said. 

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