39 Amendments of Louis MICHEL related to 2016/2328(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
- having regard to the UN Convention on the Right of the Child;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
- having regard to the United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, adopted on 29 November 1985,
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)
Citation 6 a (new)
- Having regard to the European Parliament Resolution on the EU accession to the Istanbul Convention to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence of 12 September 2017;
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
Citation 7 a (new)
- having regard to Council Directive 2004/80/EC of 29 April 2004 relating to compensation to crime victims,
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9 a (new)
Citation 9 a (new)
- having regard to Directive (EU) 2016/800 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
Citation 11 a (new)
- having regard to Regulation (EU) No 606/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on mutual recognition of protection measures in civil matters,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 12 a (new)
Citation 12 a (new)
- Having regard to Directive 2011/92/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children online and offline and to the European Parliament Resolution on the implementation of the Directive of 14 December 2017;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 13 a (new)
Citation 13 a (new)
- having regard to the European Parliament study of September 2017 entitled 'How can the EU and the Member States better help victims of terrorism?'
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
- Having regard to the study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) entitled ‘Child-friendly justice -Perspectives and experiences of children involved in judicial proceedings as victims, witnesses or parties in nine EU Member States’, published in February 2017,
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas there is still a systematic underreporting of incidences or perpetrators of domestic violence in the EU, particularly in cases involving minorities, LGBT persons, antisemitic offences, child sexual abuse and gender- based violence;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas the ratification and full implementation of the Istanbul Convention provides a coherent European legal framework to prevent and combat violence against women and to protect the victims;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I – indent 4
Recital I – indent 4
- ensuring equal accessibility for all victims to victim support services, particularly in the cases of child victims, LGBT victims and victims of hate crimes and honour- related crimes;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 – indent 2
Paragraph 4 – indent 2
- the fact that clear information is often not provided in more than one language, making it de facto difficult for victims to seek protection abroad in another Member State;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Encouragescalls on the Member States to promote access to justice, as this contributes greatly to breaking the silence and increasing the victim’s sense of justice, decreases the possibility of impunity and allows the victim to begin the process of psychological recovery;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls on the Member States to clarify their national provisions on extraterritoriality so as to guarantee the right of victims of crimes committed in a Member State other than that in which they reside to lodge complaints with the competent authorities of the Member State of residence;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Recalls that one of the most important objectives of the Victims’ Rights Directive wais to improve the position of victims of crime across the EU and to place the victim at the centre of the criminal justice system;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Calls on the Member States to step up criminal procedure law measures guaranteeing the protection of child victims throughout the entirety of criminal proceedings and thereafter to ensure that they receive assistance and support, thereby avoiding that child victims are exposed to secondary victimisation;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to pay particular attention to the individual assessment of minorschildren and of child victims of human trafficking, child sexual abuse and exploitation; recalls that child victims shall be always considered to have specific protection needs due to their vulnerability as foreseen in art.22 par 4 of the Directive;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to pay particular attention to the individual assessment of minors and of child victims of human traffickingany form of crime, and stresses the need to deal with children and young victims in a way that takes proper account of their vulnerability;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Highlights the fact that individual assessments are crucial as they help the victim realise that he or she has certain rights, and the right to make decisions, in the proceedings they are involved in and, if a child, the right to have access to the specific procedural safeguards that would apply to them from the very beginning of the legal proceedings;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide training programmes and guidelines for law practitioners, police officers, prosecutors and judges to ensuring that they are better able to execute individual assessments without delay once a crime has taken place, to avoid further victimisation or secondary victimisation experienced by victims of crime and to empower victims, as a means of reducing post-traumatic stress; recalls that particular attention should be given to training professionals dealing with victims of child-related crimes, especially in cases of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation; stresses that such training should also be included in education programmes and that compulsory training should be available, on a regular basis, to all professionals involved in dealing with victims of crime, in order to develop a victim-oriented mind- set;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide training programmes and guidelines for law practitioners, police officers, prosecutors and judges to ensuring that they are better able to execute individual assessments without delay once a crime has taken place, to avoid further victimisation or secondary victimisation experienced by victims of crime and to empower victimsprovide victims with information about their rights and the services which they can access and to empower them, as a means of reducing post-traumatic stress; stresses that such training should also be included in education programmes and that compulsory training should be available, on a regular basis, to all professionals involved in dealing with victims of crime, in order to develop a victim-oriented mind- set;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Member States to guarantee access for victims of crimes committed in another Member State to information concerning their rights and to the support services and compensation schemes available in the Member State in which the crime was committed; calls, in this regard, on the Member States to take appropriate action to facilitate cooperation between their competent authorities or entities providing specialist support to ensure that victims have effective access to such information and services;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Reminds the Member States of the requirement to provide translation and interpretation services free of charge, noting that lack of information in other languages may constitutes an obstacle for the effective protection of the victim and a form of discrimination against the victim;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Urges the Commission and the Member States to engage actively in information campaigns to increase awareness about the rights of victims as established by EU law; stresses that such awareness-raising campaigns should also be organised in schools to inform children of their rights and also provide them with tools to detect all forms of crime they have suffered or witnessed;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Urges the Commission and the Member States to engage actively in information campaigns to increase awareness about the rights of victims as established by EU law, including the specific needs of child victims;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Member States to exchange best practices on establishing mechanisms to encourage and facilitate for victims to report the crimes they have suffered; Calls on the Member States to step up specific measures to protect more effectively child victims of child sexual abuse by also improving the role of national helplines, given that self- reporting of children is limited;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a Reminds the Member States that particular attention should be paid to the risk of intimidation and retaliation and to the need to protect the dignity and physical integrity of victims, including during questioning and when testifying, in order to determine whether and to what extent they should receive protection measures during the criminal proceedings;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Calls on the Commission to counteract the judicial and practical flaws in the implementation of this directive by a proper interplay of the various EU victim- protection instruments, such as Directive 2011/99/EU of 31 December 2011 on the European Protection Order, Directive 2011/36/ EU of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, Directive 2011/93/EU of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and Directive 2014/42/EU of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime; calls on the Member States to implement these important instruments, including the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and girls, with coherence in order to ensure that victims in Europe fully enjoy their rights;
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Member States to put in place measures to ensure that written and oral communications comply with simple language standards taking in consideration vulnerable groups such as children and people with disabilities, so that victims can be kept informed in an adequate and targeted manner before, during and after criminal proceedings;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Calls on the seven Member States that have not yet done so to consider stalking a criminal offense on the basis of the relevant provisions in the directive on the right to protection of privacy, the right to protection and, in particular, the right to avoid contact with the offender and as called for under art.34 of the Istanbul Convention to prevent and combat violence against women and girls;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls on the Member States to guarantee assistance to victims from victim support services before, during and after criminal proceedings, including psychological support; deplores the fact that in some countries, governments rely heavily on NGOs to provide key support services to victims (‘volunteerism’)underlines the important role of civil society in victims support; considers nevertheless that governments shall not rely only on NGOs to provide key support services to victims (‘volunteerism’) and shall build capacity to develop victims support mechanisms, involving law enforcement authorities, health and social services and civil society;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Calls on the Member States to establish coordinated mechanisms to collect information on victims of a terrorist attack taking place in their territory, and to provide victims, through the creation and development of a one-stop shop, a web portal and an emergency telephone line, with specific information relevant to their needs, including psychological first aid and referral possibilities in the immediate aftermath of the attack and during any criminal proceedings;a confidential, free of charge and easily accessible support service1 a. This support service must be able to provide assistance and support to victims of terrorism in accordance with their specific needs, such as emotional and psychological support, advice and information on any legal, practical or financial matters in the immediate aftermath of the attack and during any criminal proceedings, and assistance in national compensation claim procedures; _________________ 1a Support service as provided for in Article 24 of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism.
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Member States to establish coordination mechanisms to ensure effective transition of support for victims from immediate care in the aftermath of a crime to assistance as needed in the longer term; stresses that such mechanisms should, in particular, ensure the referral of victims to long-term services whereby different organisations provide support during different phases, noting that these mechanisms should also have a cross-border functionality in order to provide victim support services, and guarantee the victim’s right to be informed, assisted and compensated in their place of residence when the crime has taken place in a Member State other than the one in which the victim resides;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Calls on the Commission to propose the creation of a European fund for assistance to victims of terrorism;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Calls on the Member States to establish a permanent dedicated website on which all public information on support services established following a terrorist attack that has taken place in that Member State can be accessed;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Calls on the Commission to begin a dialogue with the Member States in order to reduce the strong disparities2 a in national financial compensation granted by each Member State to victims of terrorist attacks; _________________ 2aNational financial compensation ranges from the symbolic amount of one euro in some Member States up to EUR 250 000 or more in others.
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35 a. Calls on all Member States and the EU to ratify and fully enforce the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention to prevent and combat violence against women and girls and protect victims;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36 a. Calls on the Commission to submit a legal act to support Member States in the prevention and suppression of all forms of violence against women and girls and of gender-based violence;