Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-355"
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"en.20000614.14.3-355"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in this communication, the Commission has certainly demonstrated its willingness to make a tangible contribution towards improving the position of crime victims. It points out that within an area of freedom, justice and security within the European Union, citizens must be entitled to effective legal protection.
There is also evidence of a discriminatory response to victims reporting crime. Member States should be obliged to set up special police units for crime victims.
I would also draw attention to the importance of a legal basis for, and harmonisation of, the measures for protecting victims. The study carried out under the Grotius programme by An Wergens provides the requisite basic information. The useful experience available in respect of existing measures in certain Member States can play an important role in harmonising measures or drawing up a common package of measures. An initiative of this kind is a first step towards crime prevention. But given the fact that organised, cross-border crime is on the increase, the initiative should culminate in a common prevention programme on a European and international scale.
Finally, pending the introduction of a harmonised instrument for cross-border protection of victims, the Member States themselves and the candidate countries, in conjunction with NGOs, will need to enhance the protection of victims. It is also important to assess safety aspects in urban development and spatial planning in order to prevent crimes.
The Commission would also like to launch a discussion on the treatment of victims and would like to see measures taken to improve their plight. The Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs feels that a number of the proposed measures are too dependent on the goodwill of individual Member States and it calls for rules at a European level. Why is this so necessary? There are countless examples known to us of how victims have been treated in recent years: child abductions, in which case the parents and relatives are also the victims, victims of terrorist attacks, victims of organised crime, break-ins, robberies and the like, stalking, not to mention intimidation. But victims must not suffer twice: firstly from a crime and secondly from the system. There is a need for clarity concerning the rights of victims and for transparency concerning their status.
The measures proposed in the Commission communication appear to be geared exclusively towards victims from one Member State in another Member State, or third country victims legally resident in one Member State in another Member State. However, the package of measures should also take account of Member State victims in third countries and third country citizens illegally resident in a Member State.
The status of a victim should not have any effect on his rights or on the possibility of acquiring such rights. In the context of the enlargement of the European Union, particular attention should be paid to the treatment of victims from the candidate countries.
Since they are concerned with both civil and criminal procedures, the Treaties provide the European Union with instruments for increasing the protection of crime victims on its territory.
It is regrettable, however, that the unanimity rule currently applies. The scoreboard submitted by the Commission for reviewing progress in implementing the area of liberty, security and justice should be modified in such a way as to guarantee and speed up the legislative follow-up to the present directive. It is disturbing, however, that the measures concerned with aid to crime victims are not intended to come into effect until 2004 in this scoreboard. We cannot let victims wait for that long. By providing measures in 2001, victims will at long last be able to look forward to fair treatment. After all, treating victims with understanding and dignity also plays a preventive role. The proper treatment of victims will help destigmatise them and enhance their emblematic role.
When granting aid to victims, it is important not only to provide financial and legal assistance, but also to take measures first of all in the field of anonymity, privacy and safety of the victims, as well as in connection with the religious and cultural aspects, and to provide medical, psychological and social assistance. In addition, it is important to recognise the family of the victim as fellow victims and as witnesses, and to recognise the right to be assisted by an interpreter and to be questioned in the mother tongue. A special system should also be set up for the legal, psychological and physical protection of victims of domestic violence, stalking and genital mutilation.
In particular, additional measures are required for minors. For this purpose, specially equipped rooms need to be provided where the questioning of minors can be registered on video, so that they are not obliged to be confronted more than once with a traumatic experience. It must immediately be possible to provide the victim with material, medical, psychological and social assistance which is free of charge at the time of being offered.
Victims should also be informed of the availability of the various forms of assistance. It is extremely important that, depending on the nature of the crime, specialist assistance is provided. In this context, it is important to do away with a number of prejudices: some forms of crime are regarded more seriously in some countries than in others."@en1
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