This paper sets out some of the key challenges and concrete solutions in the implementation and enjoyment of victims’ rights that have emerged from FRA’s research over the past decade on how victims of crime have accessed their rights in practice across the EU. The findings are intended to inform and support the work of key stakeholders with respect to the revised Victims’ Rights Directive and related legislative files that address various victims’ rights. Those include the Directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence, the Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protection of its victims, the Directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, the Directive on combatting terrorism, and the Compensation Directive.
Based on existing FRA data, the paper brings together key findings from FRA’s quantitative and qualitative research on victims of crime relating to three areas:
- Reporting crime
- Protection from secondary victimisation
- Victim support services.
The paper highlights challenges and solutions in each of these areas, drawing directly from FRA’s published work.
Empirical evidence concerning victims’ enjoyment of their rights in practice, and the challenges they face, emerges from data that FRA has gathered using a variety of methodologies; namely:
- Large-scale quantitative surveys collecting data from tens of thousands of victims (based on interviews in person or carried out online; some surveys covering all EU Member States and others a selection of countries); and
- In-depth qualitative research that involves the testimony of victims but also practitioners who deal directly with victims within the criminal justice system (e.g. police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, victim support services).
See list of relevant FRA publications at the end of this section.
The solutions outlined in this paper, drawn from existing FRA findings, are based on practices in various EU Member States that have proven to be effective in responding to the practical needs of victims and to improving their ability to access their rights. These findings can assist the EU institutions and Member States in identifying actions that could be taken in these three areas to guarantee the rights, support and protection of victims of crime.
Millions of people in the EU fall victim to crime each year. Data from FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey – the first EU-wide survey to collect comparable data on the general population’s experiences of, concerns about, and responses to different types of crime – showed that more than 22 million people experienced physical violence in one year in the EU-27 [1]Estimate based on the results of the survey relative to the EU’s population.
(Crime, Safety, and Victims’ Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey, 2021).
However, according to the survey, the majority of crime incidents were not reported to the police (64 % of victims of physical violence did not report the most recent incident to the police), a phenomenon that is replicated in different crime victimisation surveys at the level of individual countries. Non-reporting of incidents means that most victims do not go on to receive support or access justice, despite violations of their rights. As a result, perpetrators enjoy impunity – with an overall cost not just to victims, but to society at large. This data, which includes respondents’ reasons for not reporting crime, highlights that EU Member States’ responses to victims in practice – to meet their needs and ensure access to justice – falls short of the legal guarantees of victims’ rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (the Charter) and the Victims’ Rights Directive, among other legal instruments. This gap between the ‘law in the books’ and victims’ lived experience of their rights in practice is something that FRA’s data has consistently highlighted in both its quantitative and qualitative research on victims’ rights, which will be evidenced in this paper.
Ultimately, ineffective responses by Member State authorities in responding to victims of crime have severe and lasting negative consequences for victims. Respondents to many FRA surveys over the years who have been victims of violent crime have highlighted the significant long-term effects of their experiences of victimisation, including:
- Fear of leaving the house or visiting certain places: according to the Fundamental Rights Survey of the general population (Crime, Safety, and Victims’ Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey, 2021), 37 % of women in the EU-27 who have experienced physical violence and/or harassment deliberately avoid situations they perceive as presenting a risk of physical or sexual assault or harassment. Separately, 22 % of people of African descent who have experienced racist violence informed FRA that they were afraid to leave the house or visit places as a result of their victimisation (Being Black in the EU, 2023). For respondents to FRA’s 2024 LGBTIQ survey who had experienced physical or sexual violence, this figure was around one in two (52 % - LGBTIQ at a crossroads: progress and challenges, 2024).
- Negative psychological consequences: nearly one in three (30%) victims of physical violence interviewed for FRA’s general population fundamental rights survey experienced anxiety in the aftermath of their victimisation (Crime, Safety and Victims’ Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey, 2021). More than nine in 10 victims – both women and men – say that they experienced psychological consequences if the incident of physical violence included acts that were of a sexual nature. 61 % of victims of racist violence felt depression or anxiety, women (71 %) to a higher degree than men (51 %) (Being Black in the EU, 2023), while the majority (63 %) of victims of physical or sexual attacks who responded to FRA’s survey LGBTIQ at a crossroads: progress and challenges, 2024 indicated experiencing negative psychological consequences, such as depression or anxiety.
Incidents of crime also lead to costs borne by society or victims themselves, in terms of interventions, including, among others, medical, criminal justice, victim support, emergency housing, counselling and other services (as highlighted in FRA’s report Crime, Safety and Victims’ Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey, 2021, from the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Survey). Victims can also lose income due to time taken off work. Research by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), 2021 estimates that the costs related to gender-based violent crime across the EU amounts to EUR 366 billion per year.
Not all people are affected equally by or worry about crime. For example, FRA’s general population Fundamental Rights Survey highlighted that women (young women in particular), people with lower education levels, people who are unemployed or struggle to ‘make ends meet’, people whose disability or health limits their usual activities, people born outside the EU, and ethnic minorities, all tend to worry about crime at higher rates (Crime, Safety and Victims’ Rights – Fundamental Rights Survey,2021). To take a particular example, 50 % of persons with disabilities (defined in the survey as those who have severe limitations on their usual daily activities) expressed concern about becoming a victim of crime, compared with 36 % of those without limitations. Actual experiences of physical violence and harassment were also higher for persons with disabilities. For example, 17 % of persons with disabilities experienced physical violence in the 5 years before the survey, compared with 8 % of those without disabilities.
Collecting robust and comparable EU data from EU Member States relating to victims’ rights, and covering the experiences of all victims, including those who are most marginalised, is an essential horizontal measure for informing policy and law-making on the subject. An intersectional approach to collecting data, disaggregated according to relevant indicators and personal characteristics, is important in this regard. When carried out regularly, data collection provides much-needed evidence about whether adopted measures and policies are effective in practice over time, including, for example, a baseline trend of whether more victims are reporting to the police, and – where data allows – which type of victims and which type of crime is being reported more.
Survey and other data on crime victims’ experiences will increase EU institutions’ and Member States’ understanding about victims’ rights in practice and assist them in monitoring progress, and, at the same time, will raise awareness about gaps related to the actual enjoyment of victims’ rights that need addressing. It will also help policy and lawmakers to take important decisions such as where to allocate often limited resources.
Setting out explicit obligations for data collection for the different entities working with victims at national and EU level can also help to coordinate this work and simplify data collection tasks. Obligations for data collection at Member State level are limited, but some progress has been noted in recent years. For example, Article 44 of the Directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence sets out clear obligations for Member States to collect, develop and disseminate statistics on violence against women or domestic violence, which should be disaggregated by sex, age group (child/adult) of the victim and of the offender and, where possible and relevant, the relationship between the victim and the offender, and type of offence. Such data are key towards supporting the monitoring of the prevalence and trends of violence against women and domestic violence. It is also key in designing new policy strategies in this area, via statistics that can be compared, assessed and analysed at EU level.
At present, Member States’ data collection on all victims’ experiences of crime, which extends beyond officially reported and recorded crime rates – such as crime victimisation survey data collection – remains limited to certain Member States and is often undertaken on an infrequent basis. In particular, FRA’s survey data collection is a rich source of data for Member States and EU institutions, which can be used as the basis to develop and inform policy on victims of crime.