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Estonia · Law · SE

702

Victim Assistance Act

avaldatud riigiteatajasEstonia· Riigikogu· ET

Introduced

29 September 2022

Last action

—

Status

AVALDATUD_RIIGITEATAJAS

Sponsors

—

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

14 December 2022

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Summary

The purpose of the draft Victim Assistance Act (OAS) is to improve the availability and quality of victim assistance services provided to victims of violence, crime or crisis and to make the system for applying for benefits for victims of crime more victim-friendly. The draft stipulates services that have not yet been legally regulated, their purpose and content, and the requirements for the service provider. The current law does not include the following services provided for in this bill: psychosocial assistance in crisis cases, sexual violence crisis assistance, restorative justice services and support for giving up violence. Those services that already exist in the current law, but whose conditions are sometimes unclearly formulated or, on the contrary, are too detailed, are specified: the service for victims of human trafficking and the service of the women's support center. For the first time, the bill provides for provision of psychosocial assistance. It is necessary to respond to the victims' need for assistance a comprehensive approach that includes consideration of social, psychological and emotional aspects and treating the person as a whole. Ensuring psychosocial assistance can include providing psychological first aid to a person who has just been attacked in a public place, longer support in restoring a sense of security and settling his life for a victim of domestic violence, as well as in the event of a crisis with a large impact, the lives of dozens of people starting the processes that affect it. The draft formulates the obligation of all providers of victim assistance services to provide psychosocial assistance. In the current law, SKA's obligations in providing and organizing victim assistance are insufficiently stipulated. The draft formulates the purpose and content of victim assistance services and stipulates the tasks of SKA in organizing victim assistance. All the relevant sections of the draft stipulate the differences in the provision of victim assistance in the case of a minor victim. Everything the specified clarifications are important in order to ensure the clarity of which services are to be provided and how they must be provided, also taking into account the needs and rights of children. The purpose of the bill is also to provide common fundamental bases for the provision of victim assistance, which are highlighted by various directives and conventions concerning the rights of victims of violence. The current law does not present such principles, although taking into account the nature of the violence experienced by the victim and the victim's primary needs, re-victimization prevention, ensuring a hearing, involving the victim in all stages of assistance, etc. are extremely important from the point of view of the victim's recovery. The draft stipulates the legal basis for the exchange of data to ensure victim assistance. Currently, significantly fewer victims reach victim assistance than crimes are processed. The aim of the bill is to take the responsibility of victims in the most difficult situations to actively seek help themselves. The basis for data exchange is provided both for victims in need of special treatment and protection, high-risk victims of domestic violence and other victims, including minors. In addition, the obligation of confidentiality is stipulated, i.e. the information about the victim and the perpetrator of violence that became known during the provision of victim assistance must be kept. An important place in the draft is to stipulate the requirements for education and further training of providers of victim assistance, the purpose of which is to ensure that they work with victims in a vulnerable situation appropriately trained specialists. In addition to the above, the purpose of the bill is to ensure mental health assistance supporting recovery from trauma (defined as compensation for the cost of psychological assistance in the current law) also for those victims of sexual violence and domestic violence and their children, with whom proceedings have not been initiated due to the lack of physical evidence, the statute of limitations for the crime, etc., but whose need for help remains and the trauma they experienced prevents moving on with life. Regarding the compensation paid to victims of violent crime, the goal is to make the compensation more accessible and the application more user-friendly. For this purpose, the principles of compensation calculation are changed. Compared to the current law, state subsidies (funeral allowance paid by the local government, survivor's pension, work ability allowance) will not be deducted from the compensation in the future, victims of working age do not need to undergo an assessment of work ability at the Unemployment Fund, certain in these cases, it is not necessary to submit cost documents.

Machine translation from Estonian. The official text remains authoritative.

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Documents

30 official files

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