Topic Description

1. Priorities

The aim of this call is to contribute to the effective and coherent application of EU criminal law in the area of the rights of victims of crime (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/criminal/victims/index_en.htm).

The first and main priority is the implementation and practical application of the following instruments:

• Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime;
• Directive 2011/99/EU on the European Protection Order;
• Regulation (EU) 606/2013 on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters;
• Directive 2004/80/EC relating to compensation to crime victims.

Project proposals should be focused on actions that ensure maximum practical benefits and impact for victims of crime, including:

• development and testing of efficient methods and tools for providing information to victims about the type of support they can obtain and from whom, the procedures for making complaints, how and under what conditions they can access compensation, as well as all other information about victims' rights depending on the specific needs and communicated in a manner taking into account the personal characteristics of the victim.
• development of secure communication channels allowing for referral of victims by the competent authority that received the complaint (or other public services that come into first contact with victims) to the relevant support organisations with full respect of victims’ wishes, privacy and protection of personal data;
• development of practical methods of cooperation among the relevant actors in cases of cross-border victimisation, including facilitating the exchange of information to ensure that cross-border victims get access to information, support, protection and to compensation;
• development of procedures, protocols or other tools for carrying out individual assessment of victims' needs in practice;
• actions to improve the cooperation between the relevant assisting and decising authorithies as well as central contact points established by Directive 2004/80/EC to facilitate victims' effective access to compensation.
• development of methods aimed at strengthening victims' protection, including the promotion of the use of protection orders, training of professionals about the conditions for issuing protection orders and the applicable procedures for requesting mutual recognition of protection measures in another Member State, and the promotion of benchmarks and practices established by the research already funded by the Commission. (The POEMS Study "Mapping the legislation and assessing the impact of Protection Orders in the European Member States", http://poems-project.com/).

Proposals whose main purpose is to assess the transposition of the above-listed instruments into national law are not a priority of this call.

The second priority of the call is the identification of possibile gaps and needs to improve the current EU legislation in the area of victims’ rights.

2. Description of the activities to be funded under this topic

This call will cover the following activities:

• mutual learning, exchange of good practices, development of working methods which may be transferable to other countries, including those countries that do not participate in the call;
• exchange and provision of information and development of information tools;
• capacity building for professionals;
• facilitating cooperation between competent authorities and other agencies or organisations coming into contact with victims such as legal practitioners and/or service providers (including multi-disciplinary networks at international, national, regional or local levels);
• analytical activities, such as data collection and creation of data bases, surveys, research etc;
• dissemination and awareness raising activities.

Regarding the first priority of the call, projects focusing on research and other analytical activities will be considered. Nonetheless, such actions should have a strong element of knowledge sharing across the European Union between different actors and stakeholders working on victims’ rights.

Under the second priority, projects could include analytical activities, such as research, surveys and data collection and include the analysis of the current legal situation, including its possibile deficiencies in responding to practical problems encountered by victims of crime and/or suggesting best methods for ensuring victims access to their rights.

Training activities can also be funded under this call, as long as they are of ancillary nature and not constitute the main purpose of the project.