ENVR Working Programme 2022

The work of ENVR covers a wide spectrum of the victims’ rights area in line with the relevant law, in particular the Victims’ Rights Directive^[1], the Compensation Directive and the Directive on combating terrorism^[2], moreover in line with the EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2022-2025)^[3]  the EU Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025)^[4] and the relevant Council Conclusions.

In 2022, the following working topics are envisaged by the Association of the European Network on Victims’ Rights. The below listed working topics include the suggestions made by the national experts. Beyond the below priorities, activities may address further issues that are of interest to professionals. Moreover, ENVR remains responsive to situations and urgencies by taking additional activities and working topics, if necessary.

Events

1) ENVR Generic Network

Programme: Spring Expert Meeting (1 whole day personal event in mixed plenary and workshop format)

Working topics:

• Victims and trial (overview of the participation of the victim during the hearing in the different States; how to prepare the victim for the shock of the hearing before the trial; what psychological and legal help to offer to the victim during the trial; how not to abandon the victim after the trial).
• The place of victims in mass trials (how does the victim of a major crisis manage find his or her place among the multitude of people involved in the procedure. For instance, how does each judicial system manage to make the voice of each victim heard; in what stage of the proceeding; how can lawyers represent several victims in the same trial without losing the specific character of each personal situation; how can the media report on the multiplicity of victims, their situations, their feelings, without giving a unified and false vision of the trial.
• Victims and restorative justice – with an outlook of the possibilities of these mechanisms for victims of major crisis.

Programme: Autumn Expert Meeting (1 whole day personal event in mixed plenary and workshop format)

Working topics:

• Support to victims of domestic violence – including child victims of domestic violence as well. Generic and specific support systems, good practices for psychological aid and trauma support and counselling (immediate and long-term), training activities for professionals dealing with victims of domestic violence, the role of the family and other members of the victim’s microenvironment in the process of access to support, good practices for informing victims of domestic violence on their rights (both individually and in the context of wider awareness-raising).
• The practical application of the European Protection Order.
• Support to victims with disabilities. Specific digital solutions for victims with disabilities.

Activity: Seminar (1 whole day event in workshop format)

Working topics:

• Digitalization of justice – including digitalization in communication, pilot projects in the area of using artificial intelligence, pro and contra regarding data transfer.

Activity: focus group meetings (2-4 meetings in 2022, maximum 10 experts per meeting)

Working topics:

The thematic to be decided depending on the focus interest of the participating countries. The participating countries are to be selected after an open call will be issued by the Association at the beginning of 2022.

2) Compensation Network

Activity: meetings of the Compensation network (4 meetings in 2022, of which 1 is personal and 3 are online meetings); ensuring the availability of up-to-date information on compensation

Working areas:

• Discussion of current issues of cross-border cooperation and communication
• Discussing of the practical issues of managing cross-border compensation cases
• Discussing the practical application of the Compensation Directive
• Digitalisation in managing compensation cases
• Compensation to victims of major crisis
• Continue the work started in 2021 for collecting updated information on national schemes and application forms to the envr.eu website
• Update the ENVR comparative data chart on compensation (2019)
• Continue the work started in 2021 for creating ‘Compensation country sheets’
• Contribution to the update of compensation related data on the E-justice portal

3) SCPOVT Network

Activity: meetings of the SCPOVT network (4 meetings in 2022, of which 1 is personal and 3 are online meetings); ensuring the availability of up-to-date information on support to victims of terrorism

Working areas

• The initial results of the SCPOVT Network’s emergency mechanism and the possible further-development of it
• Exchange of good practices on the consideration of victims in terrorist trials (on the basis of the experiences of ongoing and past trials)
• Psychosocial care for victims of terrorism
• Victims’ referral system (how do victim support actors get in touch with victims – especially regarding data protection)
• The possible improvement of the support to cross-border victims of terrorism (how to ensure continuity of support despite borders, how to continue psychological follow-up abroad, how not to forget the victim’s family, who are not cared for in the same way in different countries, how to ensure the presence of foreign victims at the trial, etc.)
• Continue to exchange ideas about the practical application of relevant law and discuss current issues
• Discussing the ideas of extending the support offered to victims of terrorism to victims of major crisis
• Contribution of the availability of up-to-date data on national schemes on the envr.eu website
• Liasing with international actors, e.g. the Network of Single Contact Points of the Council of Europe

4) For all branches of ENVR

Activity: Study visit (2 study visits in 2022)

Working topics:

The thematic to be decided depending on the focus interest of the visiting and the hosting countries. The visiting and hosting countries are to be selected after an open call will be issued by the Association at the beginning of 2022. Experts from all the three branches of ENVR are welcome to apply for this programme.

Desk researches aim to deeper analysing the national practice and will focus on the 1) digitalization of justice and the 2) support to victims of domestic violence.

The ENVR Reference Book on cooperation and communication in the area of victims’ rights 

In 2021, ENVR volunteered to become the key pen holder in the task “Platform Report”[5] envisaged in the EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2022-2025). Furthermore, ENVR undertook to prepare its own contribution to the Platform Report in the form of an “EU-level ENVR Reference Book on the practice of cooperation and communication between public institutions responsible for victims’ rights.” In order to give an overview on the achievements and possible areas of improvement regarding cross-border cooperation and communication, and the needs of victims in cross-border situations in the Member States, each Member State will compile a “National Reference Book.” All National Reference Books will form part of an “EU-level ENVR Reference Book” and later part of the Platform Report. 

From the stakeholders’ point of view, the National Reference Book focuses on the areas covered by the activity of the European Network on Victims’ Rights and, consequently, it discusses the actions of national public institutions responsible for policy making and / or victim support. Nonetheless, for the complexity of information, the National Reference Book has an outlook to the role and activity of embassies / consular services. Moreover, for delivering a clearer picture of national schemes, the National Reference Book demonstrates the role and actions of the police and the judiciary as well, but only in the context of domestic level cooperation and communication.

The target group of the National Reference Books and the EU-level ENVR Reference Book is dual: it is targeting both victims and relevant authorities in the field of victim support. In order to provide clear and well-understandable information to victims, the information devoted to the public will be separated within each chapter.

The preparatory work of the Reference Book is coordinated by a dedicated Working Group consists of ENVR experts from Austria and Italy and of the Management of AENVR. The Reference Book is planned to be published in the first half of 2022.

[1] Directive 2012/29/EU on establishing minimum standards on the rights, support, and protection of victims of crime

[2] Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA

[3] EU strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025) (here)

[4] EU Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025) (here)

[5] Eurojust, the Fundamental Rights Agency, the European Institute for Gender Equality and the European Network on Victims’ Rights should report on how to improve the cooperation and exchange of information and good practices between the relevant authorities in cross-border cases (Platform Report)