On the European Day of Victims of Crime, we call for the EU to do more to advance the rights of victims with disabilities.
Despite existing legislation, many victims with disabilities are not granted their rights.
Even when measures are available, they are often not accessible to victims due to inaccessibility or the lack of provision of accommodation. Often, women and girls with disabilities, especially women with intellectual, cognitive or psychosocial disabilities, are not believed when they report violence. Persons on the autism spectrum, and with intellectual, cognitive, or psychosocial disabilities, and more particularly, victims who have had their legal capacity removed, are often denied participation in criminal proceedings.
In addition, inaccessible victim support services are a significant barrier for many victims with disabilities. Mechanisms for reporting crimes, including violence, abuse and bullying do not take into consideration the needs of women and children with disabilities since their testimonies are either discredited or they require the ability to use certain forms of communication and to have access to them.
What is the EU doing?
The rights of victims with disabilities and children with disabilities in the criminal justice system are included in the Strategy on victims’ rights 2020-2025 and the EU Strategy on the rights of the child 2022-2027. In 2023, the Commission proposed a revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive, which includes a specific provision on the rights of victims with disabilities, requiring Member States to provide accessibility and reasonable accommodation in victims’ rights services and access to justice. The proposed revised text is currently negotiated by the Parliament and the Council.
For certain groups of victims, the EU adopted specific rules. These rules build on the Victims’ Rights Directive but respond more directly to the specific needs of some victims. The EU legislation exists to provide protection and support for:
- victims of violence against women and domestic violence (new law adopted in 2024)
- victims of human trafficking (law revised in 2024)
- child victims of sexual exploitation and child pornography
- victims of terrorism.
Our demands
We call for:
- The adoption of an ambitious revised directive on victims’ rights and strategy on victims’ rights post 2025.
- Measures to monitor the implementation of the EU legislation related to access to justice, including by way of a study on access to justice by persons with disabilities in the EU, and sanction for Member States who incorrectly transposed the EU directives.
- European research and data collection on victims with disabilities and their access to justice, including victims who live in segregated settings such as residential institutions.
This article partly extracts our upcoming “Alternative report for the second review of the European Union by the CRPD Committee”, edited for clarity.
More information about justice and persons with disabilities.