In recent years, the situation regarding victims of crime and the protection of their rights has received more attention both at European and Member State level.
In particular, Directive 2012/29/EU establishes minimum standards for the rights, assistance and protection of victims of crime and ensures that victims are recognized, treated with respect and receive adequate protection and assistance.
The SupportVoC aims to ensure that victims of crime have access to the services to which they are entitled thanks to the Directive, adopted in Italy on December 15, 2015 by legislative decree number 212.
A research in Italy examined the state of implementation of the Directive and the services supporting the victims currently operating in our Country. Victims need to be “heard” and “believed” and to have all that information and support that can be useful to a personal and life journey, following immediately the crime, which presents both practical and psychological obstacles.
In addition to a documentary research, 20 key actors were interviewed on the territory: a system of support services emerged. This system, in many cases, even for years without the comfort of European legislation, has been wisely working to help victims thanks to a strong cooperation between the judicial system and the associations working in the field.
Nevertheless, the resources available are extremely scarce and the services suffer of the slowness and cumbersome nature of the Italian judicial system. Victims need to be followed both in the pre-trial phase, during and after the trial, but this, due to the limited resources, very rarely occurs.
On 7th and 8th of June, we hosted the second transnational project meeting. The meeting was a useful moment for sharing and comparing the results of the research with the other partner countries, with a view to defining a joint strategy proposal for intervention on the various service systems, which could improve the European approach and give recommendations and suggestions on the matter to be provided to the European Commission.
The activity of exchanging knowledge and skills between operators in the victim support services sector was also planned: this activity will take place next October, during a study visit in Barcelona. During this visit, operators from the partner countries will have the opportunity to learn and deepen the Spanish system of service organization to support victims of crime, considered as a reference model.
About the project
SupportVoC is co-funded by DG JUSTICE – Action grants to support transnational projects to enhance the rights of victims of crime.
Partners
The project holds together 6 organisations:
- Coordinatore: UB – University of Barcelona (Spain);
- KMOP – Family and Child Care Centre (Greece);
- EKKA – National Centre for Social Solidarity (Greece);
- AAF – Animus Association Foundation (Bulgaria);
- HFC – “Hope For Children” CRC Policy Center(Cyprus);
- CESIE (Italy).
For further information
Follow the project through our project’s Facebook page or visit the website supportvoc.eu .
For further information please contact justice@cesie.org.
