Reshaping treatment approaches towards victims of sexual violence within criminal proceedings

ended

Context & overall objective The Directive 2012/29/EU establishes the rule of an individual assessment for all victims of crime in all EU Member States (MS), considering personal characteristics of a victim and the nature and special characteristics of the crime, expressly mentioning sexual violence. However, victims of sexual crime are often re-victimised by justice systems that are not adapted to their rights and needs. Practitioners still lack capacity building and specialised training in dealing with victims of sexual crime. The overall aim of the RE-TREAT project is to boost procedural and organisational changes in the criminal proceedings within the justice systems in Spain, Italy and Greece in order to improve their responsiveness to particular needs of victims of sexual crimes. Thus, RE-TREAT will contribute to the call priority related to the victims’ rights by enhancing the practical implementation of the Directive 2012/29/EU. Work planned & main achievements • Analysing barriers, remedies and harmful practices on treatment of victims of sexual crimes during the criminal proceedings, • Identifying the best practices in this field, • Developing recommendation on establishing judicial codes regarding specific treatment of victims of sexual crimes during the criminal proceedings, • Development of Training Manual and training activities for personnel within justice systems, • Raising awareness among actors dealing with the phenomenon. Results & impacts • Identified barriers and pain-points faced by victims of sexual crimes within criminal justice system in 3 EU MS; • Increased capacity of at least 270 criminal justice practitioners in 3 EU MS to secure appropriate treatment to victims of sexual crimes • Improved public awareness and knowledge about the right of victims of sexual crimes to specific protection in 3 EU MS and at the EU leve • Strengthened cooperation among the competent national authorities, NGOs and professional organisations in the field.