JUSTICIA: European Rights Network

April 2013-June 2017

The JUSTICIA Network endeavours to strengthen the domestic impact of the work of its network member organisations in the area of EU justice. This multi-faceted approach will equip partner organisations more effectively, enabling them to promote the observance of EU standards on procedural rights and the rights of victims of crime, and to contribute to an all rights-based progressive reform, whilst strengthening their existing working relationships with their European counterparts.

Founded on the shared principle that EU standards cannot be effectively promoted through a single-country focus, and that such promotion requires advocate cooperation, the JUSTICIA network consists of 12 network member organisations at present:

• Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL)
• Open Society Justice Initiative (Hungary)
• Latvian Centre for Human Rights
• Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)
• Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
• League of Human Rights (Czech Republic)
• Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
• Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
• European Center for Human and Constitutional Rights (Germany)
• Greek Helsinki Monitor
• Rights International Spain
• Statewatch (UK)

Statewatch contributed research on the UK criminal justice system to the report ‘Disparities in Criminal Justice Systems for Individuals of Different Ethnic Racial and National Background in the European Union‘.

Statewatch has also gathered, organised and published source documentation on legislative measures in the two areas of law covered by the JUSTICIA project: victims’ rights and procedural rights. The intention is to make transparent the legislative procedures and negotiations leading to each measure, as well as to provide context and analysis.

You can see the results of this work on the JUSTICIA website:

• Victims’ rights
  • Directive 2012/29/EU of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA
  • Directive 2011/99/EU of 13 December 2011 on the European protection order
• Procedural rights
  • Directive 2010/64/EU of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings
  • Directive 2012/13/EU of 22 May 2012 on the right to information in criminal proceedings
  • Directive 2013/48/EU of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in Europan arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty
  • Legal aid reform
  • Vulnerable accused and suspected persons
  • Pre-trial detention
  • Presumption of innocence
• Future EU criminal justice reform