Pity the Poor tourist

Unless the heads of government include Justice as part of the new treaty revisions being considered later this week in Germany British and other tourists will continue to suffer discrimination  claims new cross border Justice umbrella organisation, the just umbrella

Stephen jakobi the founder of Fair Trials Abroad and sponsor of the new organisation issued the following statement: –

“There will be much talk of sovereignty, maintaining the ability to keep up standards and handing over powers to Brussels at the conference and the British government appears to be particularly entrenched.

The fact remains that those of us who travel within the EU will continue to be vulnerable to injustice, unless something is done and we are heard.  There is a double whammy: we are vulnerable to lack of protection for us if we are mistakenly or wrongly arrested in countries like Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.  If we are victims of violent crime, and such statistics as there are indicate we are 25 times more likely to be such victims as natives,the facilities we should expect to be in place are nonexistent.  Furthermore, there is no prospect of anything being done about these problems, unless and until the heads of government come up with a practical and democratic system of managing EU Justice.”

Reflections on Cross Border victim support: June2007 

Introduction

there is a need to establish a European foreign victim support group so that foreign victim’s of crime throughout the EU are supported to proper international standards.In May 2007, the writer was invited to attend the annual conference of the European victim support forum (now reconstituted as European victim support), held in Hungary.  He was invited to deliver a paper on the current state of cross-border victim support and lead a workshop on the subject.  The information gained is summarised here.

Lessons from the European victim support conference, Hungary, May 2007

EU competence.

The legal position within the EU, is that cross-border Justice jurisdiction belongs to the first pillar (all power to the European Council and unanimity rule).  Nevertheless, the first framework decision after the European legal space was established, was the frame work decision on victim support (noted above).This was a presidency initiative by the Portuguese.  As a result the usual careful preparation and consultation background to a framework decision by the European commission was omitted.

This has had a further consequence. A framework decision in the field of Justice is unenforceable under the present constitution.  There has therefore been virtually no progress  in implementation of the framework decision, except for various unilateral decisions by member state governments that do not have direct relevance to cross-border problems.   

Research and statistics

 Very little research has been done on cross-border, victim support problems (a project in progress involving collaboration between UK, Ireland and Malta has been funded by the commission.)

IVS survey results.

The international victim survey is a global UN sponsored body.  An Original survey in EU monitoring affects of the framework resolution was sponsored and such information as we have is culled from that survey and other surveys conducted by that organisation.  It should be emphasised that the information obtained by the survey is mainly of use for planning and victim support for natives.  It has little relevance for cross-border victims.

The only tourist experience surveyed was in the Netherlands and Spain.The results did not vary much between countries and showed tourist on average is 25 times more likely to be a victim of crime than a native.  Whilst it is accepted that over 80% of all crime committed on tourists is simple theft  a tourist or business traveller foreigner is obviously far more vulnerable to serious crime than the native

Prospects for reform

fundamentally, the problem of implementation can only be resolved within the structure and rules created by the European Council for the European legal space at Tampere.  The priorities are embodied in  a rolling criminal Justice programme in succeeding five-year terms.  The current programme, the Hague does not give victim support a priority and is not due to end until 2009.  It is difficult to envisage progress being made before then.  The new programme will be under the Swedish presidency.   and there is need for a preparatory programme of research in 2008 to persuade the Swedes to give cross-border victim support. Explorer on A way forward through the European

Conclusions

We consider that it is imperative that a non-resident victim support group should be created with the assistance of all the native victim support groups and have some status of relationship with European Victim Support

The lethal combination of ineffective European legislation, a crying need for action and no realistic prospects for solution in the immediate future is, unfortunately, a commonplace situation when it comes to civil rights within the European Union.  However, the problem here as elsewhere, is lack of cross-border research and information.

There is an obvious need for a comprehensive preparatory scheme of research in 2008 to persuade the Swedes, supported by other national governments, to make cross-border victim support a priority within the third criminal Justice programme. 

Stephen Jakobi

June 2007