BeneVict Project
The BeneVict project aims at developing an evidence base to promote victims' rights and influence the future of victims' rights in the EU, as well as creating a broad pan-European partnership to tackle the challenge of improving the real situation of victims across the EU.
Project objectives
In its entirety, the project will support the global need for valid and evidence-based arguments to promote victims' rights in the EU and as such is much needed to promote the rights of millions of European victims. As such, it will ultimately serve a number of specific purposes, including:
- assisting the EU and Member States in their future action on common values and the implementation of the EU Strategy on Victims' Rights
- assisting Member States in developing their own national strategies
- assisting VSE and our EU members, partners and collaborators in promoting victims' rights
- Providing methodological tools for future joint initiatives – including performance evaluations, data collection,
- Developing arguments to promote the benefits of victim support and justify investment in additional services.
The project methodology is intended to include, as far as possible, the gender perspective and the perspective of other vulnerable victims, in particular groups identified by the RVRD itself – children, victims of terrorism, hate crimes, victims with disabilities, etc.
Whenever possible, disaggregated data will be requested. The review of data collection practices will aim in particular to examine the availability of data that can help identify and/or address gender and victim vulnerability issues.
Project activities
The BeneVict project will:
Make a rapid assessment of the current state of practical implementation of the Victims' Rights Directive in the EU-26
Identify data collection practices in Member States
Develop a methodology for the Victims' Rights Index
Quantify the costs of victimisation in four selected Member States – Estonia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden
The benefits of victim support will also be quantified in Estonia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden
Recommendations will be made for further investment in victim support
Identify gaps in knowledge and skills of stakeholders – victim support professionals, law enforcement, justice, etc.
Information on upcoming EU and Member State actions in the area of victims' rights will be provided.
An approach will be developed to use research findings to build effective engagement with stakeholders
The capacity of stakeholders to respond to victims' needs will be enhanced
Awareness raising on the project objectives and dissemination of the project results is also envisaged
Expected project results
The project aims to improve the rights of European victims and their family members as well as European societies in general. In particular, the project will seek to incorporate elements of inequality based on gender and other criteria – e.g. sexual orientation, race, residence status, etc. – into its methodology and will generally seek to reflect the concerns of vulnerable victims. The lack of data to allow such findings will also be a finding in itself and recommendations will therefore be offered to correct practices that allow analysis of the impact of crime on particular groups of victims.
In the medium term, the project intends to monitor the performance of Member States in the area of victims' rights through the development and implementation of a victims' rights index. This index will help in the future rapid assessment of victims' rights performance. Furthermore, also in the medium term, the results of the project will continue to influence EU and Member States' policies and legislation related to victims and victimisation and will help to develop better tools to tackle these phenomena. Our innovative methodologies will offer for the first time the provision of a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of victim support spending and aim to promote more streamlined and ring-fenced victim support spending.
In the medium to long term, the project will contribute to improving policies and legislation, as well as investment in victim support, improve the implementation of the Human Rights Directive and other relevant legislation, and bring about change in victims' experiences, hopefully reducing the consequences and global impact of victimisation in the EU.
Its outcomes include:
Preparation of a report on the current state of practical implementation of the Human Rights Directive
Informing legislators and policy makers in the EU and Member States on how best to develop forthcoming victims' rights legislation;
Building the capacity of professionals to create better legislation and policy for victims of crime
Project partners:
Weisser Ring Verbrechensopferhilfe (AT)
FEHÉR GYŰRŰ Közhasznú Egyesület (HU)
You can read more about the project here.
The BeneVict project is funded by the EU under contract No 101056660 – BeneVict – JUST-2021-JACC
The content of this project represents the views only of the project partners and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for the use which may be made of the information made available by the project.