Abstract
The Victims’ Rights Directive, establishing minimum standards for the rights, support and protection of crime victims, is the cornerstone of the EU victims’ rights policy. Its provisions set minimum standards for the participatory rights of victims in criminal proceedings and introduce an individualised approach towards victims. The individualised approach, which takes account of the special vulnerability of particular victims, is also vital in implementing one of the core rights provided in the Directive—the right to support. The implementation of the Directive therefore requires a wide spectrum of legislative and non-legislative measures. This chapter addresses the strengths and weaknesses related to the implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive in two Baltic countries: Lithuania and Estonia. It is argued that in Lithuania the main emphasis has been placed on the formal transposition of the Directive, whereas Estonia also focuses on developing victim support services. However, the needs of the most vulnerable victims are not adequately addressed in either country.
The work of Katre Pall and Anna Markina was supported by the EU co-founded Project “SeRV: Services and Rights for Victims of Crime” (847356 — SeRV — JUST-AG-2018/JUST-JACC-AG-2018).
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Notes
- 1.
The Istambul Convention requires setting up appropriate, easily accessible rape crisis or sexual violence referral centres for victims in sufficient numbers to provide for medical and forensic examination, trauma support and counselling for victims (Art. 25).
- 2.
Starting from March 2020, a bi-weekly monitoring of the COVID-19 situation has been conducted by the research company Tutu-Uuringute AS by order of the Estonian Government Office. Some sections of this monitoring also contain a subsection on domestic violence victimisation and related questions. The most recent data on domestic violence victimisation were collected 21th–26th April 2021, N = 1255. The reports are published online: https://www.riigikantselei.ee/uuringud.
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Leonaitė, E., Markina, A., Pall, K. (2022). Implementation of the Victims’ Rights Directive in Lithuania and Estonia: Challenges and Achievements. In: Limantė, A., Pūraitė-Andrikienė, D. (eds) Legal Protection of Vulnerable Groups in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06998-7_13
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