Eurojust Symposium Advocates for Enhanced Protection of Crime Victims Across Europe

Eurojust Symposium Advocates for Enhanced Protection of Crime Victims Across Europe

(IN BRIEF) Eurojust recently hosted a landmark symposium in collaboration with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, focusing on bolstering the rights and support systems for victims of crime across Europe. The symposium emphasized the need for seamless integration of victims’ rights into the judicial cooperation processes among national authorities, aiming to address the complexities posed by cross-border cases. With approximately 75 million EU citizens becoming victims of crime annually, Eurojust underscored the pivotal role it can play in coordinating efforts to safeguard victims’ rights, drawing on expertise from various EU agencies and key partners. The symposium highlighted the diverse challenges faced by different victim groups, including victims of terrorism, human trafficking, economic crime, and cybercrime. Eurojust’s commitment to advising national authorities on prioritizing victims’ roles in the judicial process signifies a crucial step towards ensuring justice and support for all victims, regardless of nationality or location.

(PRESS RELEASE) THE HAGUE, 27-Apr-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Eurojust aims to step up its efforts to assist victims of crime. The Agency will work on ways to more effectively integrate victims’ rights into every step of judicial cooperation processes by national authorities: from the identification of victims to their right to remediation. This is the main outcome of the ‘Symposium on Victims’ Rights in Europe’ organised by Eurojust this week in cooperation with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Belgian Minister of Justice, Mr Paul Van Tigchelt, said: Without a strong and effective justice system, neither our security nor our freedom, our democracy and our rule of law can be guaranteed. Collaboration is key to achieving better results in the realm of justice. But first and foremost, justice must be done for the victims. This symposium will contribute to enhancing, fostering and further developing the rights and procedural guarantees of those who have fallen victim to crime.

Ms Hilde Vandevoorde, National Member for Belgium at Eurojust and Chair of the Working Group on Victims’ Rights, stated: Eurojust can and must play a pivotal role in minimising the risks associated with the cross-border dimension of cases. Ensuring timely and efficient coordination between the various countries and actors involved will help to safeguard victims’ rights. Via this symposium, we bring together expertise, experience and best practices that we think will benefit victims of crime.

Approximately 15% of all Europeans, or some 75 million EU citizens, fall victim to crime every year. Maintaining, improving and guaranteeing the rights of victims is also one of the priorities of the Belgian EU Presidency in the field of justice and home affairs.

Over the years, Eurojust has paid great attention to the rights of victims of all types of crime across Europe. Through its support to cases, the Agency sees on a daily basis how complex and difficult it can be to protect the victims of crime when different jurisdictions are involved.

The symposium, the first ever organised by Eurojust in this field, brought together a wealth of expertise to address this issue. Practitioners, representatives of the EU Commission and EU agencies such as the Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Institute for Gender Equality shared their experiences.

Other key partners such as the EU Centre of Expertise for Victims of Terrorism and the European Network on Victims’ Rights participated in the Eurojust symposium, which focused on specific groups, such as victims of terrorism, trafficking in human beings, economic crime and cybercrime.

The symposium provided an overview of best practices in EU Member States, with participants recognising the different needs of each victim and the specific challenges posed by the cross-border dimension of cases involving victims of multiple nationalities located in different jurisdictions.

To increase the prominence of victims in the entire judicial process, Eurojust is committed to systemically advising national authorities to consider the role of victims in the judicial process, regardless of their nationality or place of residence.

The symposium showed that by bringing together the prosecutors and judges in charge of cross-border cases involving victims, Eurojust can contribute to greater convergence and coherence of national efforts in this field.

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SOURCE: EUROJUST