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Description
The project aims to strengthen the rule of law by ensuring an efficient, accessible and qualitative criminal justice system for children as victims of crime and for victims of hate crime, with a special focus on Roma population.
To achieve this, it foresees the implementation of certain activities aimed at improving the response to hate crime and the protection and assistance mechanisms for victims of hate crime and for children as victims of crime, such as: perform thematic analyses of the existing situation with recommendations for improvement, having in view the challenges victims of Roma ethnicity face; draft guidelines for professionals; elaborate training packages, training of trainers and training of prosecutors and other professionals; renovate and refurbish 35 rooms for hearing children victims of crime.
The activities of the project target the prosecutors and other relevant professionals within Romanian public bodies involved in protecting the victims of crimes. The project will benefit the children victims of crime, the victims of hate crime, with a special focus on the Roma population. The project will also contribute to increasing the trust of citizens in the judicial system as a whole, with a focus on victims’ protection and support.
Each partner has its specific role, while the promoter (the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice) coordinates the overall implementation. Thus, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights will perform data collection, research and analysis and provide independent evidence-based advice to policy makers, cooperating and networking with stakeholders, the Ministry of Justice will provide advice with a focus on practical ways for incorporating the results of the project in new policies and outline bottlenecks, and the General Directorates of Social Assistance and Child Protection District will facilitate the setting up of the hearing rooms for children within their headquarters.
Summary of project results
The project aimed at creating a proper framework so that victims of crime (including hate crime), especially children and Roma, can benefit from a more effective and efficient justice system without any revictimization.
To this purpose, the project envisaged conducting an independent and comprehensive assessment of Romanian public bodies’ activities related to protection of victims of hate crime and children victims of crime, as well as further training of prosecutors and other professionals in increased awareness of the needs of victims and of the psychological features of children or minorities.
Moreover, the project aimed at addressing the issue of the improper venues where the hearings of children victims of crime were generally conducted by improving the infrastructure dedicated to this kind of hearings.
The outputs achieved through the project are the following:
- Improved response to hate crime and protection and assistance mechanisms for victims of hate crime (HC);
- Improved protection and assistance mechanisms for children victims of crime (CVC).
The two outputs were achieved through the following activities:
- Assessment of the criminal justice system response to hate crime, protection and assistance mechanisms for victims of hate crime and recommendations for improving their efficiency and effectiveness, which informed the following deliverables:
- Thematic analysis - Hate crime legal and policy framework;
- Mapping of current procedures and gaps analysis in regards data collection on hate crime.
- Assessment of the protection and assistance mechanisms for children victims of crime and recommendations for improving their efficiency, which informed the following deliverables:
- Thematic analysis of the protection and assistance mechanisms for children as victims of crime;
- Mapping of reporting and data collection procedures for children as victims of crime.
- Guide on identifying, investigation and prosecution of hate crime elaborated;
- Guide on investigation and prosecution of crimes against children and on interviewing children victims of crime elaborated;
- Training sessions in the area of hate crime and children victims of crime conducted, resulting in a total number of 177 professionals (such as prosecutors, police officers, judges, social workers) trained (114 on HC and 63 on CVC), plus 35 trainers trained.
- The topics tackled under the training package on HC were, among others: relevant regulations in the field of HC, the needs of victims of hate crimes, including those of Roma ethnicity, improving investigative skills, communication skills with the victim, improving inter-institutional cooperation etc.
- The topics addressed under the training package on children victims of crimes were, among others: improving knowledge about and awareness of the needs of child victims of crimes, including those of Roma ethnicity, hearing and communication techniques, psychological aspects to consider, etc.
- Renovating and refurbishing 33 rooms for hearing children victims of crime at the level of prosecutors’ offices throughout the country (29) and the social assistance directorates in Bucharest (4).
The project contributed to strengthening the rule of law by increasing the performance of the Romanian criminal justice system through improved institutional response and mechanisms for the protection and assistance of victims, with a particular focus on children as victims of crime and victims of hate crime generally, addressing the particular vulnerability of Roma. This has been achieved through a combination of research and legal analysis, data collection, stakeholders'' engagement, training and capital investment in child-friendly hearing rooms, with the steady support and involvement of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
The main target group of the project is represented by prosecutors and other relevant professionals involved in protecting the victims of crimes (such as police officers, judges, social workers, psychologists)
The end beneficiaries are:
- children victims of crimes;
- Roma minority victims of crime;
- Victims of hate crime and their families;
- persons who will benefit from a more efficient judicial system, including an effective justice chain and strengthened rule of law. The programme also contributed to increasing the trust of citizens in the judicial system as a whole, with a focus on victims’ protection and support.