Urgent call to EU negotiators to strengthen rights of all victims of

Urgent call to EU negotiators to strengthen rights of all victims of crime regardless of residence status Joint Statement on the Revision of the EU Victims’ Rights Directive 22 February 2024 Joint Statement on the Revision of the EU Victims’ Rights Directive The European Union (EU) has long recognised the need to protect all victims of crime without discrimination. [...] However, there exist significant obstacles and ambiguities in the proposed revision, potentially obstructing the full realisation of rights for marginalised victims of crime, in particular those with an insecure residence status or that are undocumented victims.9 1 Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, su. [...] 13 Fundamental Rights Agency, 2023, Underpinning victims’ rights: support services, reporting and protection 14 Directive 2011 combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA 15 Communication from the commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions. [...] It is essential that the Victim Rights Directive introduces this strong safeguard, particularly given failure of EU negotiators to include it in the new Directive on violence against women and domestic violence despite the EU’s16 obligations to uphold privacy rights laid out in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).17 Unconditional access to support ser. [...] We support proposed revisions of the VRD under Article 16 seeking to enhance access to compensation by strengthening victims’ rights during criminal proceedings, making state payment of the offender’s compensation binding and timely, with the possibility for the state to recover it from the offender later.