“I pretend to smile and laugh in those pictures you see with my sister. No one knows how I really feel inside,” says Mai Sa, a 14 year old girl, studying at a migrant learning centre in Mae Sot district, Tak province, in northern Thailand. Mai immigrated to Thailand at the age of 5 with her parents and is second in a family of 4 with 2 elder sisters and a younger brother. Soon after they immigrated, her parents separated and Mai along with her siblings were left living on their own, under the care of teachers and staff at a boarding home at a Burmese education centre in Mae Sot and her mother moved to Bangkok to seek employment. She also became a youth volunteer with Help Without Frontiers (HWF), which conducts with children and youth groups at various Burmese education centres in Mae Sot district to raise awareness on child trafficking and provide knowledge on child protection issues.

In April 2013, teachers at the boarding house became suspicious of the girl’s changing behaviour. She was often seen walking alone with Sam, a male teacher as she spoke less and often kept to herself. During role plays, especially when it comes to issues involving abuse, she often volunteers to play the ‘victim’ and will get very emotional during re-enactment.

 Finally she confessed to some HWF staff that she has been sexually abused by Sam for the past 2 years and the abuse occurred in several places, in secluded areas of the school, bathroom, and even in her own room at the boarding house when no one else was around.

“I feel worthless. There is nothing left in my life,” said Mai Sa when she was interviewed by Save the Children’s social worker.

Sam threatened the child not to tell anyone or her family might be in danger. Soon after HWF staff learned of the situation, the child was sent for physical examination at the Mae Sot hospital. She was moved out of the boarding home into a shelter provided by HWF due to concerns of her personal safety as the head master of the school is also the defendant’s sister. The case was then reported to the police. An arrest warrant was issued and Sam was taken into custody and held on illegal immigration charges while the evidence was being gathered on charges relating to sexual abuse of a minor.

Save the Children’s Expanding the Reach and Effectiveness of Thailand’s Child Protection System along the Thailand-Myanmar Border under the support of UNICEF promotes the development of protection system for vulnerable migrant and undocumented children in Thailand. The work enhances local child protection structures- namely the district Child Protection Committee and the Multi-disciplinary team to respond and find durable solutions for cases of child abuse, exploitation, and victims of violence in various forms.

“Teachers and family should be more vigilant to signs of abuse and be more alert to change of behaviour in children,” said Pasatree Chomwong, Senior Social Worker for Save the Children.

Save the Children’s work emphasized on strengthening child protection knowledge and capacity for case management. Efforts were exerted to train social workers and competent officers in government and NGOs in handling cases of non-Thai children in the target border areas through workshops and continuing coaching. Save the Children will apply the lessons learned on child protection work to futher contribute to the strengthening of the provincial and to the extent possible, the national child protection system. This will address among others two key concerns that have evolved in our experience- the situation of Myanmar migrant children who were affected by armed conflict before crossing the border and the situation of separated and unaccompanied children.

“Though we have benefited from a multidisciplinary approach in handling child protection cases, different sectors, government and NGOs, should develop better mechanisms for cooperation,” added Pasatree.

The defendant was put to trial at Mae Sot court and the defendant finally sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in August 2013. The child was moved to a new boarding school and Save the Children continues to follow up with her and participates in case conferences with a child psychologist in the process of her emotional healing.