Preparations for VSE’s Annual conference 2018 which is hosted jointly with Victim Support Sweden on 23-24 May in Södra Teatern Stockholm are entering into the final stage. There are 40 days left to the conference and the programme is almost finalized, giving the real meaning to this year’s theme which is Reaching out to Victims.
Programme
The conference will be opened by João Lázaro, President of Victim Support Europe and Eva Larsson, Secretary General of Victim Support Sweden. We are honored to announce that the opening speeches will be given by Morgan Johansson, Swedish Minister of Justice and Joëlle Milquet, Special Adviser to President Jean-Claude Juncker for the compensation of victims of crime. Keynote Speaker will be Claire Waxman, London’s first Victims Commissioner.
Opening and keynote speeches will be followed by a discussion panel “A comprehensive approach to cybercrime: from prevention to support” which will gather interesting presenters, from Julie de Baillencourt , Facebook Safety Policy manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa and Olle Cox, Expert on cyberbullying at Victim Support Sweden to Jennifer Perry, CEO of Digital-Trust while we are still awaiting confirmation from Miriam Michaelsen , Attorney at law, partner at NJORD and Clara Sommier, Public Policy and Government Relations Analyst at Google.
“Reaching the most difficult to reach” will be subject of our second plenary session. There we will have the opportunity to see and listen presentations from Myrra Franzén, Film and Tell who will speak about Supporting children exposed to domestic violence and Sandra Claasen, Member of Dutch Ministry of Justice Board on Human Trafficking who will tell us more about Identifying and supporting victims of human trafficking. panel will be closed by Liesbeth de Donder, Professor in Adult Educational Sciences at Free University, Brussels with a presentation about Supporting victims of elder abuse.
Day 1 of the conference will be closed by speeches of Helgard van Hüllen, Vice President Victim Support Europe and Eva Larsson, Secretary General Victim Support Sweden.
Second day of the conference will be opened by a welcome note and introduction by João Lázar and Eva Larsson after which we will continue with the third plenary session “Referring victims to support. Barriers and opportunities”. At this interesting panel we will host Frida Wheldon, International Development Director from Victim Support Asia who will talk about Police referrals and the EU Data Protection Regulation. Plenary session will continue with presentation on “Working on the street to support the most vulnerable” by Kurt De Backer and Sandra Beelen from Centrum Algemeen Welzijnswerk. Closing presentation at the 3rd plenary will be given by Isabelle Sadowski, Legal Director and Co-ordinator at France Victimes who will speak about “Working with the private sector”.
We are honored to host former VSE Deputy Director and former president Center for Children in vulnerable situations (DRC) who will speak about Working with the community to support victims in conflict zones at the opening of the fourth plenary which is focused on Reaching out through the community. Emilia Engdahl and Lisbeth Bengtsson from Victim Support Trollhättan will also join this plenary and talk about Community support after terrorism.
The official programme of the conference will be closed by Katarzyna Janicka-Pawlowska from Victim’s Rights Team at DG Justice, European Commission.
Workshops
VSE’s 2018 annual conference is offering variety of workshops which are divided in 5 themes:
- Vulnerable groups
- Getting support to victims
- Specific groups of victims
- Working through partnerships and community to reach and support victims
- Information, awareness raising and training
Workshops will be organised in 4 blocks, according the conference schedule:
Block 1 is scheduled on May 23 at 11:00, between the discussion panel and the lunch break.
Block 2 is scheduled on May 23 at 15:35, between the second panel and closing speeches of the Day 1.
Block 3 is scheduled on May 24 at 11:00, between the 3rd plenary session and the lunch break.
Block 4 is scheduled on May 23 at 11:00, between the discussion panel and lunch break.
Blocks 1, 3 and 4 will encompass workshops form all 5 themes while the block 2 will be organised in a Speakers’ Corner style, with at least 10 mini-workshops written and presented by participating organisations.
Detailed workshop overview you can find here in pdf.
Social programme
On Tuesday 22nd of May we’ll have a pre-conference welcome event at the Nobel Museum at Stortorget (the Great Square) in Gamla Stan (Old Town). Refreshments will be served and museum guides will provide guided tours of the collections.
After the Day 1 is concluded, we’ll walk down to the quay north of the theatre and board a boat which will take us around Stockholm and through one of the smaller locks into Lake Mälaren. An experienced tour guide will guide us as we go past historic sites, residential areas, parks and allotment gardens. Eventually, the boat will land near the magnificent City Hall, where the City of Stockholm will be hosting a special reception for VSE 2018 conference participants including a buffet and guided tours
For our post-conference event, there will be a buffet and live music at our venue Södra Teatern preceded by your choice of walking tour with an expert guide from Stockholm City Museum.
VSE Annual General Meeting
After the closure of the conference on Thursday 24th of May, Victim Support Europe will have its Annual General Meeting. Here, members of VSE will have the opportunity to present their activities, meet new members and greet the old ones. They will be presented with the 2017 reports and 2018 plans and they will also vote on important issues regarding the work of VSE secretariat, network and VSE members.
For more details please visit the annual conference official web site.
