Rights of Victims of Crime: Tensions between an Integrated Approach and a Limited Legal Basis for Harmonisation

Abstract

In this article an assessment is made of the potential contribution of the recently adopted Directive on the Rights of Crime Victims and the Directive on Trafficking in Human Beings to improving the position of victims of crime in general and victims of human trafficking in particular. Both legal acts aim to guarantee a comprehensive protection of victims of crime by multi-disciplinary action both at EU and national levels. Such an integrated approach is to be advocated. However, the question arises whether the EU is well equipped to take such action. Based on a critical analysis of the institutional changes in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice with the adoption of the Treaty of Lisbon, the lack of implementation of EU legislative instruments in this particular area and the future EU accession to the ECHR, a tension between the new legal framework and the ambitious goals of the EU in relation to victim rights is identified.