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The Project VinE - Victims in Europe promoted by APAV, on behalf of Victim Support Europe, started in 1st of December 2007 and had the duration of 2 years. It aimed to provide the European Commission and other interested parties with a fuller and more comparative picture of the effects of the Council Framework Decision on the Standing of Victims in Criminal Proceedings (2001/220/JAI) in the legislation of the 27 Member States and on the practical support to victims of crime.

This research, undertaken in close cooperation with the International Victimology Institute (INTERVICT), also included the evaluation of the legislation of the EU countries in a material sense. The compliance with the Framework Decision was reviewed, by means of two surveys: one concerning the legal implementation and another about the organisational implementation. Besides the important outcomes of the project concerning the present status of the implementation of the Framework Decision in the 27 Member States, we expect that the report promotes a national governmental awareness, regarding necessary improvements in the position of victims.

Therefore, Project VinE - Victims in Europe delivered a rich portrait of the standing of victims across the European Union to the European Commission, but also to Member States and organisations active within the field of victims of crime. On a more abstract level this provides the European Commission with information of the effectiveness of Framework Decisions within the field of criminal justice, in affecting change in the organisational make-up of criminal justice procedures within Member States.

On the 25th and 26th June 2009, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon held the Victims in Europe – 23rd Annual Conference of Victim Support Europe. This Seminar was attended by 260 participants from 37 different countries and was an important opportunity to present the framework of existing rights and debate whether these rights are in fact being implemented in the European Union.