Annex 1. The EU and international legal framework on risk assessment and risk management of intimate partner violence

• Author: European Institute for Gender Equality (EU body or agency)
• Pages: 50-53

Annexes

European Institute for Gender Equality50

Annexes

Annex 1. The EU and international legal framework on risk

assessment and risk management of intimate partner violence

(121) Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and

protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, OJ L 315, 14.11.2012, pp. 57-73 (available at https://eur-lex.

europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1421925131614&uri=CELEX:32012L0029).

(122) European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2016), An analysis of the Victims Rights Directive from agender perspective, EIGE, Vilnius (available at https://

eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/analysis-victims-rights-directive-gender-perspective).

(123) European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (2012), DG Justice guidance document related to the transposition and

implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the

rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, European Commission, Brussels.

(124) European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (2012), DG Justice guidance document related to the transposition and

implementation of Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the

rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, European Commission, Brussels.

(125) European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) (2016), An analysis of the Victims Rights Directive from agender perspective, EIGE, Vilnius (available at https://

eige.europa.eu/rdc/eige-publications/analysis-victims-rights-directive-gender-perspective).

Victim safety is a central concern of intimate part-

ner violence interventions at EU level and, as a re-

sult, risk assessment and risk management have

been integrated into the EU legislative and policy

framework on violence against women mainly

through Directive 2012/29/EU (the Victims Rights

Directive) (121). The Victims Rights Directive es-

tablishes minimum standards on the rights, sup-

port and protection of victims of crime. It aims to

strengthen the rights of victims of crime so that

any victim in the EU can receive a minimum lev-

el of rights, protection, support, access to justice

and restoration. This is regardless of where the

crime takes place within the EU or the vic tims

nationality and residency status. In addition, the

directive aims to take significant steps forward

in the level of vic tim protection throughout the

EU, in particular within the framework of criminal

proceedings (recital 4). EU Member States may

extend the rights set out in the direc tive in or-

der to provide a higher level of protection (recit-

al 11) (122).

The core objective of the Victims Rights Directive

is to effectively respond to victims needs in an

individual manner, based on an individual assess-

ment and a targeted and participator y approach

towards the provision of information, support,

protection and procedural rights (123 ). Article 22

of the directive calls specifically for indi vidual as-

sessment of the victim by the relevant services

and promotes a case-by-case approach towards

victims. According to the guidance document

produced by the Directorate-General for Justice

and Consumers, [the] purpose of individual as-

sessment is to determine whether a victim

is particularly vulnerable to secondary and

repeat victimisation, to intimidation and re-

taliation during criminal proceedings  (124). Ac-

cording to the directive, the purpose of individual

assessment of victims is to determine whether

a victim has specific protection needs, and to de-

termine if special protection measures should be

applied and what these should be.

The Victims Rights Directive does not specify

when the individual assessment should be per-

formed and by whom. As stressed in EIGEs re-

port analysing the Victims Rights Directive (125),

while the directive has no operational descrip-

tion on how an indiv idual assessment should be

carried out, Article 22 clearly states that the as-

sessment must be performed in a timely manner

and in accordance with national procedures.

Article 22 of the Victims Rights Directive is also

relevant for risk management in that it calls for

appropriate services to determine whether a vic-

tim has specific protection needs, if special pro-

tection measures should be applied and what

these should be. Importantly, the individual ap-

proach taken in the directive does not create