Volume 114Issue 72A
Royal Gazette
16 November 2540
Note: The grounds for promulgation of this Act are as follows: Since it appears that offences have been committed against women and children, in which women or children are bought, sold, disposed of, carried away, or procured by various means for the purpose of satisfying the lust of the offenders themselves or other persons, for indecent purposes, or for other wrongful purposes, including the selling of children and the forcing of children to become beggars or to be employed in brutal or cruel forms of labour, it is appropriate to designate penal provisions anew so that they cover the mentioned acts. In addition, at present, the described acts are limited to women or girls only, but they have extended to boys and tend to occur against anyone, regardless of the sex. It is thus appropriate to modify the bases of the offences in the relevant provisions so that they become broader, and it is appropriate to amend sections 282 and 283 of the Criminal Code—which provide that Thai courts are of the power to punish the mentioned acts, even though committed abroad—by separating them into distinct clauses in section 7, which deals with the power of Thai courts to punish criminal acts characteristic of international crimes. It is therefore necessary to enact this Act.
