Since September 2022 the SIAK Journal “International Edition” (Volume 12)  of the Federal Ministry of Interior (BMI) has been available online. Our colleague Sabine Mandl from the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR), together with Julia Planitzer, has written the article “Who is a Victim? The Concept of Victim in the Victims’ Rights Directive. A human rights analysis of the concept of victim from a gender-specific perspective”, published in this issue.

The article deals with the concept of victim, subjects it to a human rights analysis and examines it from a gender perspective. It also looks at the concept of victim contained in the EU Victims’ Rights Directive. After analysing the origins of the concept of victim and the application of the Victims’ Rights Directive in selected European Member States, the article concludes with reflections on how the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) can be made legally binding by the EU. It also identifies possible legal and political implications.

The article was written as part of the EU project: “RiVi: Rights of Victims of Survived Bodily Harm and Improved Access to Clinical Forensic Examinations”, for which the LBI-GMR acted as the lead organisation from February 2019 to January 2021. Both the research project and the now published article aimed at facilitating access to rights for victims of (domestic) violence.

You can find the entire article here or as a PDF in the download area.