In light of
Serbia’s accession to the European Union (EU) and the harmonisation process presented
in the Action Plans for the implementation of the EU accession Chapters 23 and
24, a comprehensive nation-wide system
for supporting victims and witnesses of crime in Serbia is required to
fulfil EU standards.
The OSCE Mission
to Serbia (the OSCE) has been active in the Republic of Serbia in the area of
victims’ rights for over five years: from the incorporation of the issue of
victims’ rights into the 2013-2018 National Judicial Reform Strategy and its
Action Plan, through support for the establishment of Victim and Witness
Support Services in all Higher Courts and all Higher Public Prosecutions’
Offices. The OSCE has also supported the
judicial and prosecutorial Working Groups in drafting General Instructions for
the operationalisation of these Services. It has also provided related capacity
building training for judges, prosecutors, support officers in court and at the
public prosecution service, court guards and attendees of the Judicial
Academy’s courses.
In February 2018, the OSCE started implementing the project entitled “Support for Victims and Witnesses of Crime
in Serbia” which is funded by the European Union to the value of 1,500,000 EUR.
The OSCE was selected as the Implementing Partner for this project by the
Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. In the previous years, the OSCE
also established
co-operation with High Judicial Council, State Prosecutors’ Council, court and
public prosecutions’ Witnesses and Victims Support Services and CSOs providing
victim support.
Over the coming three years, the main objective of the project will be
to support the establishment of a nationwide
support service for victims and witnesses of crime, as part of the criminal
justice system in the Republic of Serbia, including the institutionalisation of
a network of Victim and Witness Support Services and the creation of an
effective referral mechanism between such individual services.
The project will significantly focus
on vulnerable groups subject to secondary victimisation, such as victims of
gender-based violence, trafficking in human beings or juvenile victims.
One of the most important project activities will be the drafting
process of the National Strategy for
Victims’ Rights and the corresponding Action
Plan which will be led by the relevant national authorities with technical
expertise provided by the project.
The project also foresees
providing support for the establishment and strengthening the National Co-ordination Body for the realisation of
victims’ rights. This body will gather representatives of the most relevant
state bodies in this field and will be led by the Ministry of Justice and it
will establish co-operation mechanisms with other relevant ministries (such as
the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veterans’ and Social Affairs and the
Ministry of Health).
The project will also support the establishment
of a victim-centred legal framework, through the
amendment of the criminal legislation in Serbia.
In terms of capacity building, it will provide capacity building assistance to relevant institutions, in
cooperation with the Judicial Academy, Police Training Centre, the Bar Academy
and relevant civil society organisations.
It will also provide ICT
solutions, such as a Case Management System for all institutions working
with victims and witnesses of crime, the Call Centre for crime victims and the
database containing comprehensive information on service providers.
The project will simultaneously work on awareness rising of the general public and legal professions in relation
to the victim support service available in the Serbian criminal justice system.
In addition to providing expert advice, expert opinion, research and analysis,
the project will facilitate the organisation of various expert roundtables,
seminars, workshops, conferences and translations.
The
ultimate aim of the project is to support the national authorities and others
organisations, to ensure that victims and witnesses of crimes in Serbia are
provided with the appropriate support, protection and safeguards as required to
fulfil EU standards.