Reaction to the Revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive

On June 13th, 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted its position on the Commission’s proposal for a revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive. The European Parliament already published its negotiating mandate in April. More than twelve years after the adoption of the Victims’ Rights Directive, this was an opportunity for governments to stand in solidarity with all victims of crime and to strengthen their rights and treatment. 

Regrettably, with this Council position, States have shown little willingness to commit to enhancing victim rights. They have largely rejected or diluted the EU Commission’s proposals, turning obligations into mere options. This undermines the scope of the Victims' Rights Directive, leaving diverse crime victims inadequately protected and potentially harmed by the systems meant to protect them and deliver justice. 

The EFRJ, together with other 51 organisations, signed the statement promoted by Victim Support Europe (VSE) to show solidarity with victims of crime and urge all EU Member State to honour commitments to victims of crime; by adopting a strong Victims’ Rights Directive as the cornerstone legislation for all victims of crime. 

The adoption of the Council of the European Union position on the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive is the latest step of a decision making process started in 2021 when the European Commission initiated the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive. Following the evaluation of the Victims’ Rights Directive by the European Commission in 2021, in July 2023 the Commission adopted its proposed amendments to the Directive.

With the revision of the Directive, the Commission aims to ensure that: 1) victims have the information they need to be able to exercise their rights – thanks to the obligation on the victims’ helpline, 2) victims’ needs for protection are met accordingly - via strengthened individual assessment 3) victims are better supported – via strengthened support for the most vulnerable victims, including child victims, 4) victims can more effectively participate in a criminal proceeding – with the support they will receive at the courts and the right to legal remedies, 5) victims have more adequate access to compensation from the offender - thanks to improved state support in executing compensation from the offender.

The EFRJ is pleased to see that the proposed amendments by the European Commission specifically include restorative justice in the multi-agency approach regarding support services for victims and that, therefore, restorative justice services should to be involved in the setting up of protocols through national coordination and cooperation. Other interesting provisions aim to reinforce the right to information for victims including available restorative justice services. The European Commission amendments call for Member States to set up helpline for victims and a dedicated webpage that should inform also on available restorative justice services. Other proposed amendments are interesting for restorative justice such as the inclusion of the right of remedies for victims ‘in the event of a breach of their rights under this Directive’, a new provision concerning individual needs assessment of victims and concerning the collection of data.

However, it is disappointing that the proposed revision of the European Commission to the Victims’ Rights Directive do not include greater scope for restorative justice for victims of crime, as the EFRJ and its members envisaged and advocated for.

Building on the EFRJ Position Paper on the Evaluation of the Restorative Justice provisions of the Victims’ Rights Directive (2021) and thanks to the contribution of EFRJ members and inputs of relevant stakeholders, the EFRJ contributed to the consultation by submitting, in September 2023, to the European Commission its feedback with concrete recommendations on how restorative justice could be included in the revised Victims’ Rights Directive. Many members of the EFRJ took our invitation to let their voice heard by submitting their feedback. 

While the revision is a key step forward, and the Commission’s proposal includes important amendments, it doesn’t introduce more systematic restorative justice framework. The EFRJ argues that he revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive should be in line with the significant developments occurred in the last decade in the field of restorative justice and victims’ rights. There is clear evidence that restorative justice services play a critical role in promoting recovery, reparation, empowerment and justice for a broad spectrum of victims. 

We urge the European Union to seize the opportunity to revise the Victim’s Rights Directive to ensure effective and equal access to high-quality restorative justice services for all victims of crime who freely want to access such services. In many Member States, restorative justice services are inaccessible for many victims. Among the main barriers are exclusion criteria based on offence type or offender characteristics, victims’ lack of information about restorative justice, and limited knowledge about restorative justice among professionals that come into contact with victims and who consequently refer few cases to restorative justice services. 

To address these issues, we present two distinct proposals to amend the Victims’ Rights Directive and increase the accessibility of restorative justice. 

More about EFRJ proposal and recommendations can be found in the EFRJ website, here.

Click here to download the EFRJ feedback on the European Commission’s Proposal for the Revision of the Victims’ Rights’ Directive.

During Autumn 2023, the EFRJ sent these recommendations to the key actors of the European Parliament in charge of the file (rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs etc. of the LIBE and FEMM Committee). Several meetings with MEP’s followed to discuss our proposals. Several Members of the Parliament included in their amendments our recommendation concerning restorative justice and some of these have been included in the European Parliament final report on the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive.

During Autumn 2024 the trialoque negotiations will take place between the three EU institutions (European Commission, EU Parliament and Council) to find a compromise on the revision of the directive. In order to build (external) support for the EFRJ positions concerning the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive the EFRJ engaged in the last years in conversations with relevant stakeholders, such as Victim Support Europe and its members, the European Commission promoted Victims’ Rights Platform, the European Commission Coordinator on Victims’ Rights and members of the European Parliament. The EFRJ will continue the dialogue with these stakeholders and  advocate for a stronger inclusion of restorative justice in the revised Victims’ Rights Directive and beyond. The EFRJ will build relations with the new EU Parliament to raise the awareness on restorative justice and to identify further  ways and steps for the  EU institutions to contribute to develop and strengthen the accessibility to restorative justice in the EU.