Workshop II) will deal with issues relevant in the context of cooperation between Eurojust and the European Network on Victims’ Rights.

The timeframe of the Workshop will be equally divided between two topics: 1) the identification and support of war crime victims and 2) the possible forms of cooperation in general between Eurojust and ENVR.

  Identification and support of war crime victims (duration 60 minutes)

Since Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, many civilians became victims of war crimes committed by Russian troops and authorities.

Parallel to the investigations, it is indispensable to take joint actions by relevant stakeholders at EU level to facilitate the support of war crime victims. The primary needs of persons who experience war crimes is to be in a safe environment and to receive medical emergency treatment if necessary. Victims of war crimes are likely to need assistance to escape from the combat area. Once these central needs are met and the victims are physically safe, other needs can be accounted for.

For the above reason, many stakeholders in the EU have already taken steps to help the investigations, the identification of victims and their access to support services.

• The Genocide Network

The complexity of investigation cases in core international crime cases may raise challenges, in particular in establishing jurisdiction, linking the perpetrator with the crime scene, gathering evidence and finding witnesses. These challenges demand a coordinated approach, with national authorities working together and sharing resources under a cohesive strategy.

The EU Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes (‘Genocide Network’) were established in 2002 and reinforced in 2003 by the Council of The European Union. EU Member States are represented in the Genocide Network through national contact points comprising specialized and dedicated prosecutors, investigators and officers for mutual legal assistance.

The Genocide Network – together with Eurojust – supports national authorities in their investigations and prosecutions. The role of the Genocide Network is to cooperating with national practitioners, NGOs and international bodies, to ensure the best practice and serve as a central hub for information and knowledge-sharing during the cases.

• The role of ENVR in the area of supporting war crime victims

One of the basic operational principles of ENVR is to remain open to take immediate actions to respond to situations and emergencies arising from social needs related to victims’ rights. For this end, ENVR regularly has elements in its working programmes which are bringing the organization towards an approach which includes the practical help as well at organizational level. This ambition comes through in all the three networks and for this reason, in all the three networks ENVR regularly takes – beside the annual working programme – additional strategical tasks which allow both the practical help at organizational level and the involvement in the EU level victim’ rights policy. The active involvement in coordinated actions aiming the enhancement of the support of victims of core international crimes meets the above commitment and operational principle of ENVR.

Considering that ENVR is an advanced and coordinated cooperation of professionals – both policy makers and practitioners – work at Member States’ public institutions responsible for victims’ rights, it can have the potential to react to the need of facilitate support to victims of war crimes.

The Generic Network of ENVR has held so far two online meetings on supporting war crime victims. Based on these former discussions, the ‘Find my victim support service’ online tool is now amended by a new category of ‘war crime victims’ and the whole content is available in Ukraine, beside the 22 EU languages.

Furthermore, the AENVR management, with the participation of the Generic Network prepared the ‘Questionnaire on collecting national practices related to supporting victims of war crimes.’

• The possible forms of cooperation between ENVR and EUROJUST (duration: 60 minutes)

During the recent months, Eurojust and the Management of the Association of the European Network on Victims’ Rights set up discussions to scrutinize the opportunity of a partnership between Eurojust and ENVR, in order to improve the support and protection of cross-border victims in cases ran by Eurojust.

Parties shared the same double conclusions concerning cross-border victims:

• Cross-border victims can present a high risk of secondary victimization directly linked to the fact that they are subjected to criminal acts in a State that is not their State of residence: language barrier; poor knowledge or lack of knowledge of the judicial system and victim support mechanisms in the State where the acts occurred; double criminal proceedings conducted both in the State where the acts occurred and in the State of residence, which implies a double hearing of the victims, etc.
• The judicial authorities often carry out their actions mainly from the perspective of the perpetrator (catching the perpetrator; putting an end to the violation of public order; etc.), therefore less emphasis is put on the victims’ perspective.

Eurojust’s mandate is defined by the Article 85 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union[2]. This mandate falls under criminal law and concerns exclusively judicial cooperation in cross-border cases.

However, Eurojust has developed expertise in judicial cooperation for the benefit of cross-border victims.

In the above contexts, representatives of Eurojust and AENVR have already identified the below possible forms of cooperation which could facilitate to raise awareness of judicial authority practitioners acting in cross-border on victim-focused aspects and to address to issue of secondary victimisation.

• With the participation of AENVR, preparing written leaflets focusing on different types of crime cases and victim situations
• Asking national prosecution offices if they have liaison officer in victim support / or they could appoint one
• Participation of appointed ENVR experts at trainings and/or contact point meetings of Eurojust

[1] The Guidance was drawn up by Eurojust, the Genocide Network and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for public authorities. The Guidance was shared with the Generic Network via e-mail on 25 October 2022.

[2] Article 85 TFUE: Eurojust’s task shall be to support and strengthen coordination and cooperation between national authorities responsible for investigating and prosecuting serious crime affecting two or more Member States or requiring prosecution on a common basis, on the basis of operations carried out and information supplied by the authorities of the Member States and by Europol.