Belgian Minister of Justice, Mr Paul Van Tigchelt, said: Without a strong and effective justice system, neither our security nor our freedom, our democracy and our rule of law can be guaranteed. Collaboration is key to achieving better results in the realm of justice. But first and foremost, justice must be done for the victims. This symposium will contribute to enhancing, fostering and further developing the rights and procedural guarantees of those who have fallen victim to crime.

Ms Hilde Vandevoorde, National Member for Belgium at Eurojust and Chair of the Working Group on Victims’ Rights, stated: Eurojust can and must play a pivotal role in minimising the risks associated with the cross-border dimension of cases. Ensuring timely and efficient coordination between the various countries and actors involved will help to safeguard victims’ rights. Via this symposium, we bring together expertise, experience and best practices that we think will benefit victims of crime.

Approximately 15% of all Europeans, or some 75 million EU citizens, fall victim to crime every year. Maintaining, improving and guaranteeing the rights of victims is also one of the priorities of the Belgian EU Presidency in the field of justice and home affairs.

Over the years, Eurojust has paid great attention to the rights of victims of all types of crime across Europe. Through its support to cases, the Agency sees on a daily basis how complex and difficult it can be to protect the victims of crime when different jurisdictions are involved.

The symposium, the first ever organised by Eurojust in this field, brought together a wealth of expertise to address this issue. Practitioners, representatives of the EU Commission and EU agencies such as the Fundamental Rights Agency and the European Institute for Gender Equality shared their experiences.

Other key partners such as the EU Centre of Expertise for Victims of Terrorism and the European Network on Victims’ Rights participated in the Eurojust symposium, which focused on specific groups, such as victims of terrorism, trafficking in human beings, economic crime and cybercrime.

The symposium provided an overview of best practices in EU Member States, with participants recognising the different needs of each victim and the specific challenges posed by the cross-border dimension of cases involving victims of multiple nationalities located in different jurisdictions.

To increase the prominence of victims in the entire judicial process, Eurojust is committed to systemically advising national authorities to consider the role of victims in the judicial process, regardless of their nationality or place of residence.

The symposium showed that by bringing together the prosecutors and judges in charge of cross-border cases involving victims, Eurojust can contribute to greater convergence and coherence of national efforts in this field.