The impulse coming from the international community as well as - on a regional level - from the European community has been increasing over the past twenty years. Although the numberless supranational provisions are mostly to be regarded as statements of principles and are neither binding on nor mandatory for the individual countries, there is little doubt that they have outlined the basic path to be followed by domestic laws with a view to bringing about a genuinely harmonised European and international criminal policy aimed at the protection of victims.
The key role played by the aforementioned provisions can be shown quite clearly if one considers to what extent they make it necessary to re-haul and re-model domestic judicial systems to keep victims in focus.
Among the most important victim protection measures, reference can be made here to the following international instruments: the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, dating back to 1985 (A/RES/40/34); the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised crime, which was adopted in Palermo on 12-16 December 2000; the Additional Protocols to the Convention against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants; the Rome Statute that set up the International Criminal Court, envisaging - inter alia - procedural measures to ensure the protection of victims.
As for the European level, a distinction should be drawn between - on the one hand - the instruments issued by the Council of Europe, which has been paying attention to human rights issues in general, and in particular to the status of victims, for a longer period, and - on the other hand - the instruments adopted by the European Union, which has been addressing victimological issues for a shorter time, albeit with more in-depth effects. As regards the Council of Europe, reference should be made to the following: the 1983 Convention on the compensation of victims of violent crimes; the 1985 Recommendation (R(85)11) on the position of the victim in the framework of criminal law and procedure; the 1987 Recommendation (R(87)20) on social reactions to juvenile delinquency; the 1987 Recommendation (R(87)21) on assistance to victims and the prevention of victimization; the 1999 Recommendation (R(99)19) on mediation in criminal matters; the 2003 Recommendation by the Council of Europe (R(2003)20) called New Ways of Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency and the Role of Juvenile Justice.
On the whole, in the 1977 to 2002 period about forty instruments were issued by the Council of Europe impacting, whether directly or indirectly, on the role and status of victims. Additionally, it should be considered that such instruments have attached ever increasing importance over the years to the prerogatives of injured parties.
As regards the European Union (the so-called "little Europe"), a smaller number of regulatory instruments is available; however, they are considerably important on account of their binding nature. Especially significant instruments are the following: the Conclusions of the Tampere Council of October 1999, which declared, under point 32, the need for developing a minimum set of measures in favour of the victims of crime (with particular regard to mechanisms for payment of damages and access to justice); and the Framework Decision of the EU Council on the standing of victims in criminal proceedings, dated 15 March 2001.
The latter instrument is probably the most significant one. Indeed, a framework decision is a legal instrument by the European Union issued within the Third Pillar, i.e. judicial and police co-operation in criminal matters. Although it is not directly enforceable in Member States, which are free to implement it at domestic level in the manner they consider to be most appropriate, it is nevertheless binding on Member States as for its contents, given that the domestic measures may obviously never be in conflict with the European instrument. Basically, it is an instrument adopted at European level in order to ensure the approximation and harmonization of national laws. Member States have discretion as to the form of and the specific provisions included in their domestic measures, however they are required to comply with the object of the Community instrument. The Framework Decision in question was to be transposed by March 2006. It includes several measures that impact considerably on the political and legal decision-making process applying to victim protection at domestic level. As for its contents, the measures Member States are expected to take are manifold and wide-ranging, since they touch upon several key issues: the creation of specialised welfare services; the procedural empowerment of victims; the protection of especially vulnerable victims; the large-scale introduction of alternative justice systems such as mediation.
For the time being, Italy has not yet taken measures to implement the European instrument in question. Reference should be made in this context to the Constitutional Bill submitted on 23 July 2003 (C/2451), which envisages amendments to Article 111 of Italy's Constitution; in particular, a paragraph would be added after paragraph 5 in that Article to provide that "The law shall safeguard the rights and interests of victims of crime." This reference will be enough - according to the explanatory report to the bill - to convince and urge Parliament to take steps in this area so as to comply with European guidance. However, one should not be led to believe that the Italian legal system is utterly insufficient as to the protection afforded to victims from a procedural standpoint - unlike what is the case in other European countries. Italy's criminal procedure code was issued in 1988, when the role of victims was the focus of a lively international debate, and it can be said to pay due attention, under certain respects, to the needs vested in injured parties. In fact, the issues to be tackled have to do with all the European provisions that envisage specific measures for the victims' benefit - such as the creation of a specialised information and support system, the waging of awareness-raising campaigns, and the training of skilled staff.
To conclude, the main shortcomings have to do basically with the complex set of measures that should support victims before, after and outside the judicial proceedings involving them; conversely, as regards procedural measures, the appropriate improvements should be brought about as for the provision of information, the hearing of victims, facilitating their access to justice, and the introduction on a larger scale of reconciliation-restorative measures as well as the protection of especially vulnerable victims (see M. Del Tufo, Linee di politica criminale europea e internazionale a protezione della vittima, p. 719 et seq.)
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