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 agender 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 agender 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 tims
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 EIGEs 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
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