LRPS-2026-9204257 Economic burden of violence against children in Thailand

Tender summary

UNICEF Thailand is seeking a qualified institutional contractor to conduct an assessment of the economic burden of violence against children (VAC) in Thailand. Backgroud Violence against children (VAC) in Thailand remains widespread, with serious consequences for the realization of children's rights to health, education, and national development. Children and adolescents in Thailand experience physical, emotional, and sexual violence or online exploitation across homes, schools, digital spaces, and other institutions, with lasting individual and societal impacts. Recent evidence highlights the prevalence of VAC in Thailand. In 2022, 54% of children (aged 1 to 14 years) experienced violent discipline at home, comprising psychological aggression (38%) and physical punishment (37%), including severe physical punishment (2%).[1] Violence in educational settings is similarly pervasive and corroborated by two independent data sources. The Global School-based Student Health Survey 2021 (GSHS) found that one in three adolescent students (32%) reported being bullied in the past year.[2] These findings are reinforced by the OECD PISA 2018, which found that approximately 27% of Thai students reported being bullied at school at least several times per month, one of the highest rates among all PISA-participating countries and well above the OECD average of 23%.[3] Further, online risks are also significant, with 9% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years reporting online sexual exploitation.[4] Furthermore, 13.2% of females and 14.9% of males aged 20 to 24 years in Thailand report having experienced their first act of sexual violence before age 18 years. The combined rates of sexual violence against children are estimated to be 14%, which affects over 600,000 people.[5] Department of Children and Youth (DCY) administrative data from 2025 show 13,525 people received critical protection services through 77 Provincial Children and Family Homes, including 10,944 children (81%) and 2,581 adults (19%). In addition, 30 DCY long‑term shelters provided life-saving child protection case management services to 6,829 children in the same year, reflecting intensive, high‑cost responses to severe cases of abuse, neglect, abandonment, and exploitation. The response combines services and social protection financing lined to child protection outcomes, including the Child Protection Fund, which reached 3,798 children with THB 24.75 million paid, and kinship care grants, which supported 6,291 children with THB 127.13 million.[6] In addition, according to data from One‑Stop Crisis Centres of MoPH, a total of 17,763 individuals accessed services across 572 participating hospitals. This total includes 7,904 children and adolescents (aged under 20 years) with over 85% being girls. Adolescents sought help most frequently for sexual violence (over 4,000 cases), while children under 10 primarily accessed services for physical violence, followed by sexual abuse, neglect, and psychological harm.[7] Further, data from the Office of the Attorney General reveal that Thai public prosecutors engaged with 17,223 children across 15,784 criminal cases in Thailand's criminal justice system during 2025. The dominant offense categories were bodily harm (4,047 children), sexual offenses including rape (6,150 children combined), and murder (2,961 children), together accounting for nearly three-quarters of all child-related prosecutorial work. Children entered the system in three distinct and often overlapping capacities: as witnesses (5,604), as victims (5,353), and as accused suspects (4,815).[8] While violence against children is fundamentally a human rights violation, its impacts extend well beyond moral and social harm, imposing high and avoidable economic costs on national development and public finances. Global estimates place the burden at 2% to 11% of GDP. Regional studies estimate that violence against children costs upper-middle-income countries in East Asia and the Pacific

What to check before bidding

• Issued by UNICEF.
• Located in Thailand.
• Source notice 9204257 on UNGM.
• Notice published 3 Jun 2026; Tenqual indexed it 4 Jun 2026.
• Deadline listed as 25 Jun 2026.
• Source documents portal identified.
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