Rights of Victims of Crime: Tensions between an Integrated Approach and a Limited Legal Basis for Harmonisation
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441300400306 |
| Date | 01 September 2013 |
| Published date | 01 September 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
226 Intersent ia
RIGHTS OF VICTIMS OF CRIME:
TENSIONS BETWEEN AN INTEGRATED
APPROACH AND A LIMITED LEGAL BASIS
FOR HARMONISATION
R L and C R*1
ABSTRACT
In this article an asses sment is made of the potential contribution of the rec ently adopted
Directive on the Rights of Crime Victims and the Directive on Tracking in Human
Beings to improving the position of victim s of crime in general and victims of human
tracking in particular. Both legal acts aim to g uarantee a comprehensive protection of
victims of crime by multi-disciplinary action both at EU and national levels. Such an
integrated approach is to be advocated . However, the question ari ses whether the EU is
well equipped to take such action. Based on a critical analysis of the institutional
changes in the Area of Freedom, Secur ity and Justice with the adoption of the Treaty of
Lisbon, the lack of implementati on of EU legislative instruments in this partic ular area
and the future EU accession to the ECHR, a tension between the new legal framework
and the ambitious goals of the EU in relation to v ictim rights is identied.
Keywords: European criminal law; Lisbon Treaty; tra cking in huma n beings;
victims of cri me
1. INTRODUCTION
e adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon and the Stockholm Programme opened up
reinforced attention of EU-involvement in victims’ issues a nd more generally in the
area of crimina l justice. e 2009 Stockholm Program me calls for an integrated and
coordinated approach to victims while acknowledging the unsatisfactory
* Rianne Le tschert is profes sor of internationa l law and vict imology at IN TERVICT, Tilburg
University; Con ny Rijken is associa te professor European law a nd European cri minal law at Tilbu rg
University and res earch fellow at INTERVIC T. Both authors contributed equa lly to the artic le.
Rights of Vict ims of Crime
New Journal of Eur opean Crimina l Law, Vol.4, Issue 3, 2013 227
implementation of the current EU-victims’ rig hts instruments: the 2001 Framework
Decision on the Standing of Vict ims in Criminal Proceedings (hereaer Framework
Decision on the Standing of Victims) and the 2004 Direc tive on Compensation for
Crime Victims.1 It calls upon Member States and the Europea n Commission to take a
variety of measu res; from strengthening legislat ion and policy to increasing research.
e communautarisation of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (hereaer
AFSJ), by integrating it into the Treaty on the Func tioning of the EU (TFEU), paved
the way to furt her develop this area of Union law, including victim rights. To that end
both the Framework Decision on the Sta nding of Victims and t he Framework Decision
on Tracking in Human Beings (hereaer THB) were redraed into directives. e
extent to which the post-Lisbon legal envi ronment is adequate to realise the integrated
and coordinated approach that is ai med at in the two directives is discussed in this
article. We assess both t he challenges and possibilities post-Lisbon with regard to
strengthening t he position of victims of cr ime in general and victims of THB in
particula r by addressing the following core questions: To what extent could the Treaty
of Lisbon provide a solid legal ba sis for an integrated approach towards rights of victim s
of crime including victims of THB and how could victim s benet from the rights given
in the new directives? To answer these questions we rst discuss the rationale of EU
involvement in the area of crime victims, followed by a critica l analysis of the
implementation status of existi ng pre-Lisbon legislative act s in the area of victims of
crime. Section 3 identies the possibilities a nd challenges in relation to rights of
victims of cri me, following the institutional changes of t he AFSJ. Section 4 analyses
whether the presented challenges apply to the Directive on the Rights of Victims of
Crime and the Direc tive on Tracki ng in Human Beings.2
2. RATIONALE OF EU INVOLVEMENT
e need to improve the plight of victims of crime has been recognised for some
decades now, with both national governments a nd international bodies such as the
Council of Europe and the United Nations developing policies and legislation. Since
2001 the European Union has become more active i n this eld, witnessed in par ticular
by the adoption of the Framework Decision on the Stand ing of Victims and more
recently with the adoption of t he new Directive on Rights of Victims of Cr ime that now
1 Framework Decision 2001/220/J HA of 15 March 20 01 on the standi ng of victim s in crimin al
proceedings , OJ 2001, L 82/1. Council Direc tive 2004 /80/EC of 29 April 2004 re lating to
compensation to cri me victims , OJ 2004, L 261–15. is contribution doe s not address the Dir ective
on compensation to cri me victims in de tail.
2 Directive 2012/29/EU of the Europe an Parlia ment and of the Cou ncil of 25October 2012 establ ishing
minimum st andards on t he rights, suppor t and protection of v ictims of c rime, and repla cing
Council Fra mework Decision 2001/220/JHA, OJ 2012 L 315 and Direct ive 2011/36 EU of 5Apri l
2011 on preventing and combati ng tracking in huma n beings and protecting v ictims, repeali ng
Framework Decision 2 002/629/ JHA, OJ 2011, L 101/1.
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