Brussels, 21/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The member states, on 20 June, adopted the agreement between the European Parliament (EP) and Council on the proposal for a directive on the basic rights of victims of crime in the EU, the two having reached agreement on applying identical standards of protection to all victims of crime across the EU regardless of the type of crime. The draft directive, brought forward by Commissioner Viviane Reding in May 2011, seeks to strengthen existing national laws with minimum standards for the EU as a whole which will apply to all victims, no matter their nationality or in which country they might be. Under the terms of the agreement between the EP and Council, this base of minimum rights will include, for example, free access to victim support services, such as psychological support, throughout the whole procedure, the right to compensation for costs incurred and also the right to clear information and translation/interpretation services when the victim takes part actively in the criminal proceedings.
These measures will apply for all types of crime, whether rape, harassment, racist crime or terrorism, the EP says. All victims should undergo an individual assessment of their specific needs. Based on personal characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, race, religion or sexual orientation, the type or nature and the circumstances of the crime, any person could have specific protection needs. The agreement also provides for specialised aid being made available to certain victims, battered women or victims of gender-based violence, for example. Children's “specific rights and needs” will have to be taken into account in all cases and child victims would be given the opportunity to play an active role in criminal proceedings and to have their testimony taken into account, an EP press release states.
Negotiations between the EP and the Council considered particularly the lists of vulnerable victims which the Commission wanted member states to define, victims, such as children or the handicapped, who would automatically receive additional aid. The EP backed that idea but called for other categories of victims to be included on the list, such as victims of terrorism or gender-based violence, a source on the civil liberties committee revealed. The Council opposed extension, highlighting the cost implications, and rejecting the idea of a list of vulnerable persons, with the exception of children. In the final compromise, the EP agreed to have only children on the list of vulnerable victims but, in exchange, won the right for every victim to be heard individually, thereby ensuring, a source said, that no one will suffer discrimination in access to the various services and measures contained in the directive and that all specific needs are correctly identified. The civil liberties committee will now adopt the compromise at its meeting on 10 July and the text will be put to the plenary session in September. (SP/transl.rt)