Vision for a Revised Victims’ rights Directive

Vision for a revised Victims' Rights Directive

On 16 November, Victim Support Europe and Saskia Bricmont co-hosted an event on the “Vision for a revised Victims’ Rights Directive” to officially launch the new policy paper the “National Framework for Comprehensive Victim Support”; a testament to how practice- and evidence-based policymaking is driving improvements to the victim support system in Europe.

Given that the European Commission has announced a possible proposal for a revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive by March 2023, we believe it is key to seize the momentum to raise awareness and debate on this topic. This revision is indeed essential because it has the power to strengthen existing rights, establish clearer obligations for Member States and new rights for victims.

The event aims to exchange on the way forward for the European Commission’s proposal on the Victims’ Rights Directive, and how the European Parliament can strengthen the text in its legislative process. It also has the objective to discuss the challenges and opportunities to have a comprehensive and effective Victims Rights Directive.

As we look forward to this EU action, Victim Support Europe (VSE) is calling for a step change in the way we address victims rights.

We need a long term, strategic and systemic approach to all the rights established for victims. This means in particular that in addressing victims’ need for support, it is not enough to think about the operation of individual and disparate support organisations. Rather, every country must approach this from the perspective of national support framework.

To reinforce these ambition, Victim Support Europe (VSE) will present its new policy paper ‘National framework for Comprehensive Victim Support’, which aims to change the way we perceive engagement and actions for victims from a silo approach with each organisation operating in single sphere and single perspective, to one where every entity that comes into contact with victims does so from a victim-centred, human rights perspective. We will put this research piece forward not as a criticism of what is in place, but to show what opportunities exist to improve the EU support system even further.

Download the National Support Framework Paper

Programme

Time	Topic
13:45 – 14:00	Arrival of participants / Registration
14:00 – 14:10	Introduction and welcome Saskia Bricmont, MEP Greens/EFA, European Parliament
14:10 – 14:15	Welcome remarks Ionut Sibian, Councillor, European Economic and Social Committee
14:15 – 14:25	Key note speech Didier Reynders, EU Commissioner for Justice, European Commission
14:25 – 14:35	Launch of the National Framework for Comprehensive Victims Support paper Levent Altan, Executive Director, Victim Support Europe
14:35 – 15:05	The European Commission and national perspectives Katarzyna Janicka-Pawlowska, EU Coordinator for Victims’ Rights, European Commission Miren Špek, Executive Director, Victim and Witness Support Service Croatia Frederico Marques, Chief Operations Officer/Senior Adviser, Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV)
15:05 – 15:40	Perspectives from vulnerable groups Alyna Smith, Deputy Director, PICUM Alejandro Moledo, Deputy Director & Head of Policy, European Disability Forum Dan Christian Ghattas, Executive Director, OII Europe
15:40 – 15:55	Q&A with participants
15:55 – 16.00	Concluding remarks Saskia Bricmont, MEP the Greens/EFA, European Parliament
16:00 – 17:00	Networking Coffee

Co-organised with:

Co-funded by:

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Pictures and recording

DISCLAIMER: The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Victim Support Europe and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.