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Conference on Victim Support in Serbia

By September 19, 2017February 1st, 2021News

Victim Support Europe in partnership with The World Bank and support of The Multi Donor Trust Fund for Justice Sector Support (MDTF-JSS)  is implementing a number of activities aimed to assist Serbian Government in strengthening victim support services in Serbia. Those activities resulted with a series of reports that we are launching today towards ensuring full implementation of the EU Victims rights directive in Serbia. What has been done and what activities are to follow is going to be presented today at the Conference on Victim Support in Serbia which is going to be held in Belgrade, Serbia. Conference will be opened with welcome notes from:
Stephen N. Ndegwa, World Bank Country Manager, H.E. Denis Keefe, UK Ambassador, H.E. Henk van den Dool, Netherlands Ambassador, H.E. Nela Kuburovic, Serbian Minister of Justice.
In the working part of the conference four main aspects of the work on Victim Support Services in Serbia will be presented.

Overview of existing victim support services in Serbia

The aim of this activity was to map all victim support services in Serbia and to collect basic information about each service, including: the available forms of assistance and support provided; which type of victims are supported; how victims are informed about services; the ways in which victims can get proper assistance and support; capacity of service providers; the use of paid and volunteer staff and what kind of training they receive and how services are financed.
Full report is available here. Along with the report we produced an interactive map of existing services.
Report and the map on the conference will be presented by Aleksandra Ivankovic, Project Manager of VSE and Sanja Copic, Victimology Society of Serbia

Analysis and detailed description of organizational structures of existing victim support networks

The Report looks into how two European victim support networks function in Finland and France. Full report is available here
Guests presenters on this part of the conference will be  Leena-Kaisa Aberg, Executive Director of RIKU and Isabelle Sandowski, Legal Advisor of France Victimes and Levent Altan, Executive Director of VSE

Analysis of funding mechanisms for victim support services

The analysis  looks into the funding mechanisms in France, The UK and Finland observed whilst also taking stock of the situation in Serbia. In doing so, it identifies potential problems when seeking to implement a funding solution. Recognizing that scarce resources must be divided between many equally important priorities, the Report aims to identify alternative sources or methods for funding that are already in place in Serbia to direct them towards  victim support services. Full report is available here. Anne Warren, Executive Director of Supporting Justice, Leena-Kaisa Aberg, Executive Director of RIKU, Isabelle Sandowski, Legal Advisor of France Victimes will also be present on the conference and give their input to the analysis as well.

Assessment of alignment of Serbian Police Legislation with the EU 2012/29 Victim Support Directive

The purpose of this assessment is to identify level of alignment of the Law on Police and other relevant legislation that governs work of the police with the EU 2012/29 Directive. Document can be used as a baseline tool for the amendments of national legislation in the process of its harmonization the EU acquis, especially Law on Police, Criminal Procedure Code and relevant bylaws.The Assessment can be accessed here
The conference will be closed by Georgia Harley, MDTF TTL with presentation on future steps in working on development of Victim Support Service in Serbia

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