Dear Friends, 

Please find below the detail of the launch of the "Legal Assistance for Victims Across Europe"  that includes the flyer and the full report. We have taken the time to present separately all those who presented at our important event below. You can share any part of the presentations / publications below.  Please take some time to fill out our short survey below. 

Thank You

The Law Task Group 

RENATE

Awareness

The ‘awareness’ part of the survey sought to shed light on how well informed and aware victims of trafficking are regarding their basic rights and in particular concerning their entitlement to free legal advice. In all participating countries, victims of trafficking have the right to free legal advice, provided that they are identified by officials as victims and they are in need of financial support. Apart from Albania where victims are more likely to be informed about their rights, the survey results highlight that authorities in the other countries under examination only sometimes inform victims about their basic rights after identification. Respondents from most countries named the following barriers for victims in terms of receiving legal information and/or understanding the information given to them:

• On the part of the victims - limited language skills, little knowledge about their rights and relevant contacts

• On part of the government - lack of interpreters, legal information provided insufficient and/or too complex for victims to understand

A lack of trust among victims towards authorities was especially named as a further challenge in the Albanian, Romanian and Spanish context and therefore viewed by respondents as another hurdle for victims to access legal information.

Access

One concerning finding is that it is not uncommon for victims to wait between nine months or even over a year to be referred to free legal assistance in Spain and Romania. On a more positive note, the waiting time is clearly shorter in the remaining countries with Albania and Germany having the shortest periods of maximum three months. These outcomes are not surprising when looking at the obstacles to free legal assistance outlined by the respondents that mainly concern the government policies and formal processes to access legal assistance. High levels of bureaucracy and complex criteria make it difficult for victims especially in Albania and Bulgaria to access state-funded legal aid. As a consequence, victims therefore seek free legal assistance provided by NGOs. However, the latter have only limited capacities and funding and therefore victims are still often dependent on state-funded legal assistance. Only respondents from Bulgaria, Romania and Spain stated that some of their victims had to ask a private legal or a pro-bono lawyer for assistance. The responses further indicate that obstacles to access free legal assistance are associated with issues regarding lack of training and low payment of lawyers, especially in Germany and Romania, as well as victims’ limited awareness and knowledge about free legal assistance in Spain and England and Wales. In terms of repatriated victims and their access to legal aid, it is not surprising that respondents from Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, which are key source countries, answered in the affirmative to the question about the existence of legal assistance for victims of trafficking in their home countries. Germany and Spain have relationships with NGOs in countries of origin of victims, as respondents from these countries knew of the possibility for victims to pursue pending legal cases in their destination countries. Legal aid for repatriated victims is an under-researched area and certainly a pressing matter given the cross-border nature of trafficking and the high number of foreign victims in the European countries.

Quality

The analysis of the quality of legal aid provided to victims of trafficking revealed that the predominantly positive feedback mainly referred to the quality of legal assistance provided by NGOs, whereas negative assessments clearly concerned state-funded legal assistance. The quality of the legal aid given by NGOs Bulgaria, England and Wales and Albania were especially highly ranked as they were able to offer victim-oriented legal advice and clients felt their interests were defended. This underlines the vital role that NGOs play in the area of legal assistance for victims of trafficking and the realisation of their rights. In contrast, the quality of state-funded legal assistance received more negative evaluation. The reasons referred to were lack of qualifications and high workloads of ex-officio lawyers and lengthy as well as complicated criminal proceedings that often neglect the interests of the victims. These challenges were especially prevalent for Romania and Bulgaria. From a regional perspective, the results indicate that stark differences in the quality of legal advice between urban and rural settings mainly exist in Bulgaria, Spain, Germany and to a lesser degree in Romania. There was a wide agreement among respondents that the quality of legal aid assistance in rural areas is lower than in urban settings due to limited resources and the lack of specialised lawyers in rural areas.

Recommendations

In light of the research conclusions outlined above, the following recommendations are suggested to ensure that victims of trafficking are aware of their rights and can access free legal aid that puts their interests and needs at the centre:

• State-funded legal aid: lawyers should put more time in assisting and defending victims of trafficking in order to build a relationship of confidentiality; this should also be reflected in higher payments for ex- officio lawyers; specialist certified training and qualifications should be a requirement for all lawyers who assist victims of trafficking as this is essential to defend the interests and special needs of the victims; victims should be consulted by one lawyer only who is familiar with their case and assists them through the entire process

• Criminal proceedings: trials need to be more victim-oriented and guarantee that victims’ rights and identity are protected throughout; this requires that judges and other law enforcement actors also need to be trained in the sphere of human trafficking

• Legal aid provided by NGOs: more and accessible funds are needed for NGOs and their legal practitioners in order to strengthen their role in legally assisting victims of trafficking

• Victim identification: NGOs should also be enabled to identify and inform victims about their basic rights as identification is the key criteria for their entitlement to free legal aid In terms of future research, this report suggests the following areas for further study in order to better understand and improve the legal aid support for victim of trafficking:

• Interviews with victims of trafficking would be recommended in order to shed light on challenges and good practices of legal aid support from their perspective. What are their major concerns/desires/hopes when seeking legal assistance? How would an ‘ideal’/effective legal aid and protection look like for them? How can the judicial system be improved for them to feel better protected?

• In terms of geographical area, more research is needed to understand why in some countries the regional location appears to affect the quality of legal aid for victims of trafficking and not in others.

• In some of the selected countries, respondents were more knowledgeable about the availability and were more involved in the legal assistance of repatriated victims. What does the legal aid support look like in the country of return? What are the differences/similarities or good practices/challenges in a European country, e.g. Romania, and non-European country, e.g. Nigeria? How do NGOs support repatriated victims? Are there national differences in the quality of legal that repatriated victims receive?

Overall, this report captures some key challenges facing victims with regards to legal aid. It has highlighted disparities across the different countries participating and has made some strong recommendations for immediate action as well as identified some areas for potential further research.

We would be so grateful if you might take the time to answer a few short questions.