We are very pleased to welcome the following three new organisations to our network: Fundacja Pomocy Ofiarom Przestępstw (Victim Support Foundation Poland), Opferhilfe Berlin (Germany), and Medical Innovative Interventions Medinnovint (Cameroon). Meaning that as of today, VSE now represents 77 members in 35 countries.
VSE membership gives organisations unparalleled access not only to our in-house expertise but also to other network members, and to the EU institutions and international organisations with whom we collaborate and whose representatives regularly speak at our events.
Victim Support Foundation Poland
In implementing its mission, the Victim Support Foundation Poland strives to improve the situation of crime victims, one of the groups in Polish society whose needs are not properly met in accordance with EU standards. Through educational, training, consultative and publishing activities, we strive to update legal solutions which may support victims of crime. We introduce social awareness of and disseminate knowledge about their problems and needs, we ensure victims are aware of their rights and how to exercise them. In exceptional situations, the Foundation’s statutes allow financial support to be made available for a person injured because of a crime.
Since early 2023, together with the National Emergency Service for Victims of Domestic Violence “Blue Line”, the Foundation has been piloting the programme Assistant to the Crime Victim.
Opferhilfe Berlin (Germany)
The association Opferhilfe Berlin eV started its life as a non-profit organisation in 1986 and now advises over 2,000 victims and witnesses of crime across Berlin each year. In addition to grants from the Berlin Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination, we finance our work from fines and donations. The association supports a:
- Counselling centre in Berlin-Moabit
- Witness support service in the Moabit Criminal Court
- pro active – service point for victims of criminal offenses
The goal of the association is to support victims, witnesses of criminal offenses and their relatives. In addition, we campaign publicly and politically for the sustainable improvement of victims of crime.
We are committed to creating a social climate in which those affected by crime are respected and in which it is easier to turn to aid organisations after a crime has been committed.
Opferhilfe Berlin eV supports victims or witnesses of a crime and their relatives following critical situations.
- We support you in processing what you have experienced.
- We will show you the existing options.
- We advise you on the sensible next steps – regardless of whether you have been affected by stalking, domestic violence, burglary or other violence.
- We support children and young people with age-appropriate methods.
Medical Innovative Interventions Medinnovint (Cameroon)
Medinnovint aims at best health outcomes by ensuring a generation of well-skilled health personnel with refined clinical practice and mindsets geared towards innovative thinking. We encourage and promote activities contributing to excellent medical practice, and targeted population sensitisation.
In Cameroon, in the past, it has been a challenge to link victims of physical assault with the medicolegal framework. Many victims don’t succeed in filing cases because of poor orientation and, in some instances, because of the fear of reliving their trauma. Rural victims have felt they were excluded – by distance – from access to the very few specialists, who were only available in the major cities. And survivors filed cases that were quickly discarded because of wrongly written medical reports.
With these individuals in mind, we seek to create a system which can adequately link all the necessary facilities. In the age of technology, where over 70% of people aged 15 and above in Cameroon have a mobile phone and where internet access is rated at over 30%, we seek to use mobile phones and internet access to support medicolegal assistance.
Medinnovint has initiated a project which will raise awareness of physical and sexual violence in Cameroon. Its major aims are to support, socially and medically (if still possible), former victims and their loved ones, and manage any new cases of violent crime.
