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Overview of existing Victim Support services in Serbia

By September 22, 2017February 1st, 2021News

Within its activities, VSE is aiming to support development and capacity building of Victim Support Services and Victim Support organisations in Europe and worldwide. In partnership with The World Bank and the Multi Donor Trust Fund for Justice Sector Support (MDTF-JSS), we are implementing a number of activities aimed at strengthening victim support services in Serbia. One of the results of those activities is an overview of existing Victim Support services in Serbia made in cooperation with the Victimology Society of Serbia – VDS.
As a part of its negotiations on the accession to the EU, Serbia has prioritised the implementation of the EU Directive of the European minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (Victims’ Rights Directive). One of the cornerstone requirements of the Directive is to ensure that victims “have access to confidential victim support services, free of charge, acting in the interests of the victims before, during and for an appropriate time after criminal proceedings.” This overview examines what existing services there are in Serbia, and what needs to be done to ensure that all victims of all crimes in the entire territory of the Republic of Serbia can access such services.
The overview is based both on a survey which consulted all identified existing service providers, and on an in-person consultation with a sample of service providers, conducted through a workshop. A total of 73 organisations took part in the survey, while information on a further 36 were included in the database of victim support services based on additional research. Ten of those participating in the survey also took part in the workshop to verify results and discuss findings.
The report was prepared by the research team of VDS: Dr Sanja Ćopić, Jasmina Nikolić and Bejan Šaćiri, under supervision of prof. Dr Vesna Nikolić-Ristanović, VDS Director and under the guidance and support of the VSE’s team composed of Levent Altan, An Verelst, Aleksandra Ivanković and Sanjin Bužo and the World Bank team composed of Georgia Harley (Justice Reform Specialist and Task Team Leader) and Marina Matić Bošković (Justice Reform Expert)
We would like to thank all victim support services for their engagement in the survey and the workshop. Their participation was instrumental in mapping the victim support services in Serbia and developing the database.
here you can find the full Overview of existing Victim Support services in Serbia
Along with the report we also produced and launched an interactive map of existing services.

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