E-PROTECT II is designed to build up on and expand the results of E-PROTECT implementation. The E-PROTECT (Enhancing the Protection of Child Victims of Crime) project, which was implemented until September 2019, aimed at reinforcing the protection of child victims of crime and their active role in the criminal court proceedings primarily in 5 countries-partners of the project (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Austria and Romania). The project investigated the transposition of the Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime and focused on the existence of an individual needs assessment (IAM) procedure, suggested by the Directive, in a wide number of Member States. On this basis the E-PROTECT project team developed its own IAM with view of introducing it to practitioners from Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy & Romania and pursuing the overarching goal of promoting a more effective and child-friendly justice system.
E-PROTECT II is set to provide further capacity building of child protection professionals and improve the cooperation between competent authorities dealing with child victims, a dire need which has been identified during the events held under the E-PROTECT project, putting focus on the practical implementation of the IAM in the daily work with child victims. E-PROTECT II implementation will advance the support provided to child victims of crime, as it will further empower the variety of professionals, actively working on this field. Moreover, it aspires to make existing systems more compliant with child victims’ rights and needs by piloting the IAM, developed in the framework of the first E-PROTECT, as an appropriate tool to undertake processes of improvement and reform of the current systems towards child-friendly models of protection and justice through capacity building. The Childprotect platform, developed in 6 languages for the purposes of E-PROTECT, will be updated and maintained and a simulation game will be created and integrated in the platform as a means for more practice-oriented training. In this way, E-PROTECT II will boost Directive 2012/29 practical application & raise awareness on child victims’ right in the European Union territory.
