Victims’ Rights in Malta: working with PICUM to secure proper transposition

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The deadline for the transposition of the EU Victims’ Rights Directive being set to 16 November, the joint meeting of PICUM’s Working Group on Access to Justice for Undocumented Women was a key opportunity for us to discuss mechanisms for effectively monitoring and gathering information on the implementation of the Directive, to consider opportunities for building effective national advocacy coalitions, and to share experiences.

Claire (Legal Officer) represented aditus for this meeting, as part of our on-going engagement with PICUM and with the Directive itself (see our input on Malta’s transposing legislation here).

Participants

PICUM’s staff and representatives of very diverse NGOs from Spain, Belgium, UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Malta.

Summary

PICUM’s introduction focused on the transposition of the Directive. The enforcement of the Directive is among the EU Commission’s priorities. In the days following the meeting, the Commission was expected to present an enforcement plan/strategy. On 16 November 2016, the Commission should publish a report on MS compliance with the Directive.

The first part of the workshop consisted of a presentation of the CoE Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic violence, delivered by Kairin Heisecke from World Future Council. She introduced the main provisions of the Convention and the body in charge of monitoring its implementation: Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Women  (GREVIO).

PICUM presented an overview of its work in developing tools to support national-level advocacy and monitoring. The team presented the extremely useful ‘Guide on the Victims’ Directive’, to be used and disseminated as a tool to raise awareness about undocumented victims’ rights.

The second part of the workshop consisted of case studies and discussion of national initiatives. Representatives of La Cimade (France) and of the Immigrant Council of Ireland delivered presentations about their experiences in lobbying for undocumented victims.

Finally, PICUM described its plan to support members in their advocacy work by creating a database of key partners on victims’ rights, as well as a fact-sheet on the Istanbul Convention and on the GREVIO process.

At aditus, we’ve been monitoring the national transposition of the Directive for quite some time now. Following our technical submissions on the Government’s legal proposals, we are now considering what further action to take in view of the law’s violation of key parts of the Directive.

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