We have submitted our recommendations on the victims’ rights strategy to the European Commission. We consider this strategy to be fundamental to protect disability rights, as persons with disabilities have a higher likelihood of being victims of crimes. We invite persons with disabilities, and especially their representative organisations, to take part in the public consultation by 5 November.
Our demands
We call on the European institutions to ensure that the next EU Strategy on victims’ rights includes strong actions on the rights of victims with disabilities.
The Strategy should include the following measures:
- EU guidelines on procedural accommodation for victims with disabilities;
- disability-inclusive actions to improve identification and reporting of crime in closed and segregated settings;
- actions on accessibility of victim-support services, including an assessment of national helplines;
- EU-wide awareness campaign on victims’ rights that explicitly includes victims with disabilities;
- actions to strengthen participation, monitoring and accountability.
Our new position paper provides more details about what each of these measures would entail.
Next steps
The European Commission is preparing its second EU Strategy on victims’ rights.
- A public consultation is open until 5 November. We recommend persons with disabilities and organisations of persons with disabilities to participate in the public consultation.
- The new strategy is expected to be published later in the year.
About victims with disabilities
Persons with disabilities face an increased risk of becoming victims of crime, including violence, abuse, exploitation, hate crime and gender-based violence. They also continue to encounter significant barriers when reporting crimes, accessing victim-support services, participating in criminal proceedings, and obtaining effective remedies.
These barriers include:
- inaccessible information and communication;
- inaccessible police stations and courts;
- the lack of procedural accommodation;
- discriminatory stereotypes regarding the credibility of persons with disabilities;
- the absence of accessible and confidential reporting mechanisms.
Women and girls with disabilities, children with disabilities, persons with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities, persons living in institutions, and persons deprived of their legal capacity may face increased forms of discrimination because of their intersectionality.