Safe reporting and the right to justice
Victim's Rights Directive 2012 establishes a common set of rights for all victims and explicitly refers to protecting all victims without discrimination based on their residence. The EU Strategy on victims’ rights (2020-2025) aims to ensure that all victims of all crimes, no matter where in the EU or in what circumstances the crime took place, can fully rely on their rights. Within this framework, it also acknowledges that migrants with irregular migration status who become victims of crime are often in a vulnerable position and they may face difficulties accessing justice. If they report a crime to the police, they risk being ordered to leave the territory.
In this context, it is not surprising that in Europe many people with irregular migration status do not report crimes they suffer, be it scams, labour exploitation, racist aggressions, among others.
The Safe Reporting project wants to put a spotlight on this human rights violation, as well as promote mechanisms to guarantee equality in the access to justice in the European Union countries. The project gives priority to the victims’ rights and pays special attention to gender-based crimes such as gender violence and human trafficking for sexual exploitation.
