UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime

and Abuse of Power

Adopted by General Assembly resolution 40/34 of 29 November 1985

A. Victims of crime
1. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm,
including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial
impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that are in violation of
criminal laws operative within Member States, including those laws proscribing criminal
abuse of power.
2. A person may be considered a victim, under this Declaration, regardless of whether the
perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted and regardless of the
familial relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The term "victim" also
includes, where appropriate, the immediate family or dependants of the direct victim and
persons who have suffered harm in intervening to assist victims in distress or to prevent
victimization.
3. The provisions contained herein shall be applicable to all, without distinction of any
kind, such as race, colour, sex, age, language, religion, nationality, political or other
opinion, cultural beliefs or practices, property, birth or family status, ethnic or social
origin, and disability.
Access to justice and fair treatment
4. Victims should be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They are
entitled to access to the mechanisms of justice and to prompt redress, as provided for by
national legislation, for the harm that they have suffered.
5. Judicial and administrative mechanisms should be established and strengthened where
necessary to enable victims to obtain redress through formal or informal procedures that
are expeditious, fair, inexpensive and accessible. Victims should be informed of their
rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms.
6. The responsiveness of judicial and administrative processes to the needs of victims
should be facilitated by:
(a) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the
proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes
are involved and where they have requested such information;
(b) Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at
appropriate stages of the proceedings where their personal interests are affected,
without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the relevant national criminal
justice system;
(c) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;

(d) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when
necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on
their behalf, from intimidation and retaliation;
(e) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of orders
or decrees granting awards to victims;
7. Informal mechanisms for the resolution of disputes, including mediation, arbitration
and customary justice or indigenous practices, should be utilized where appropriate to
facilitate conciliation and redress for victims.
Restitution
8. Offenders or third parties responsible for their behaviour should, where appropriate,
make fair restitution to victims, their families or dependants. Such restitution should
include the return of property or payment for the harm or loss suffered, reimbursement of
expenses incurred as a result of the victimization, the provision of services and the
restoration of rights.
9. Governments should review their practices, regulations and laws to consider restitution
as an available sentencing option in criminal cases, in addition to other criminal
sanctions.
10. In cases of substantial harm to the environment, restitution, if ordered, should include,
as far as possible, restoration of the environment, reconstruction of the infrastructure,
replacement of community facilities and reimbursement of the expenses of relocation,
whenever such harm results in the dislocation of a community.
11. Where public officials or other agents acting in an official or quasi-official capacity
have violated national criminal laws, the victims should receive restitution from the State
whose officials or agents were responsible for the harm inflicted. In cases where the
Government under whose authority the victimizing act or omission occurred is no longer
in existence, the State or Government successor in title should provide restitution to the
victims.
Compensation
12. When compensation is not fully available from the offender or other sources, States
should endeavour to provide financial compensation to:
(a) Victims who have sustained significant bodily injury or impairment of physical or
mental health as a result of serious crimes;
(b) The family, in particular dependants of persons who have died or become physically
or mentally incapacitated as a result of such victimization.
13. The establishment, strengthening and expansion of national funds for compensation to
victims should be encouraged. Where appropriate, other funds may also be established
for this purpose, including in those cases where the State of which the victim is a national
is not in a position to compensate the victim for the harm.

Assistance
14. Victims should receive the necessary material, medical, psychological and social
assistance through governmental, voluntary, community-based and indigenous means.
15. Victims should be informed of the availability of health and social services and other
relevant assistance and be readily afforded access to them.
16. Police, justice, health, social service and other personnel concerned should receive
training to sensitize them to the needs of victims, and guidelines to ensure proper and
prompt aid.
17. In providing services and assistance to victims, attention should be given to those
who have special needs because of the nature of the harm inflicted or because of factors
such as those mentioned in paragraph 3 above.

B. Victims of abuse of power

18. "Victims" means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm,
including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or substantial
impairment of their fundamental rights, through acts or omissions that do not yet
constitute violations of national criminal laws but of internationally recognized norms
relating to human rights.
19. States should consider incorporating into the national law norms proscribing abuses
of power and providing remedies to victims of such abuses. In particular, such remedies
should include restitution and/or compensation, and necessary material, medical,
psychological and social assistance and support.
20. States should consider negotiating multilateral international treaties relating to
victims, as defined in paragraph 18.
21. States should periodically review existing legislation and practices to ensure their
responsiveness to changing circumstances, should enact and enforce, if necessary,
legislation proscribing acts that constitute serious abuses of political or economic power,
as well as promoting policies and mechanisms for the prevention of such acts, and should
develop and make readily available appropriate rights and remedies for victims of such
acts.
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Implementation of UN Declaration - INTERVICT

Implementing the UN Victim Declaration of 1985

A joint project of INTERVICT and the World Society of Victimology

Annually, hundreds of millions of people, including many women and children,
throughout the world suffer harm as a result of crime, terrorism and the criminal abuse of
power. According to global statistics presented at the UN Crime Congress in Bangkok,
one in three inhabitants of cities across the world are hit by crime every year. A report of
the WHO on Womens Health and Domestic Violence ( WHO, 2005) estimates that in
many countries as many as 30 % of all women become victims of partner violence during
their lifetime. The 2005 Human Security Report documents the range and depth of
victimization by terrorism and other forms of political violence (The Human Security
Report 2005 Nieuw venster).
In 1985, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Basic Principles of Justice
for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. Materials have been produced to assist
countries in the use and application of the Declaration such as The Handbook on Justice
for Victims (see International Victimology Website Nieuw venster). More recently, the
Victim Declaration was complemented by the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the
Rights to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International
Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law (GA,
2005) and by the Guidelines for Child Victims and Witnesses (ECOSOC, 2005).
The United Nations can take pride in its leading role in setting international standards
concerning the treatment of victims. Many of these standards have found their way in
both domestic legislation and in the new crime conventions of the UN such as the
UNTOC and its protocol against trafficking in persons.
In spite of these laudable efforts, the rights of victims are still not always adequately
recognized and they may, in addition, suffer hardship when assisting the authorities in
prosecuting the perpetrators. Fortunately, the Member States in the Declaration of the UN
Crime Congress in Bangkok have underlined the importance of giving special attention to
the need to protect witnesses and victims of crime and terrorism and have reaffirmed their
commitment to stenghtening, where needed, the legal and financial framework for
providing support to such victims, taking into account, inter alia, the Declaration on Basic
Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.
The World Society of Victimology, the worlds premier organization lobbying for victims
rights internationally, and the International Victimology Institute Tilburg (INTERVICT)
convened in December 2005 at Tilburg University, The Netherlands, an informal meeting
with representatives from different regions to discuss the follow up to the Bangkok
consensus on victim rights.

The following objectives were discussed:

Discussion of the question whether a UN Convention would be the proper instrument to
stimulate further implementation of and compliance with the basic principles contained in
the Declaration;
Prepare a cogent first draft of the convention Nieuw venster, including a preamble, a
section on rights and a section on ways to encourage and/or enforce implementation;
Propose terms of reference for a UN Secretary Generals Special Rapporteur on Victims
of Crime, Abuse of Power and Terrorism;
Develop a strategic plan to have a convention adopted and ratified.
Regarding the fourth objective, the WSV attended the Fifteenth Session of the
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and addressed the Commission
with the following recommendations:
that States make all possible efforts to incorporate and apply the said basic principles and
guidelines concerning victims in their domestic legislation and practices, including those
concerning acts of criminal terrorism, as well as in international legislation and practices
of international courts and other international organizations;
to request the Secretariat of the UN Crime Commission to convene an Expert Group
meeting with equitable geographical representation to study ways and means to promote
the use and application of the said basic principles and guidelines with particular
attention for :
updating of existing manuals and handbooks, including with new materials on victims of
terrorism and gross violations of human rights law ;
provision of technical asssistance to developing countries to strengthen service delivery
to victims in accordance with UN standards.
Member States may also wish to invite the expert group to consider the desirability and
feasability of the establishment of a Special Rapporteur on Rights of Victims of Crime
and of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and the elaboration of a UN
Convention on the rights of such victims.
Conclusions 15th Session Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice:
The Commission Secretariat Section of UNODC is currently finalizing the report of the
15th session of the Crime Commission. The report, which will contain both a summary of
the discussions held during the Commission as well as the resolutions adopted by the
Commission, will be submitted to the Economic and Social Council at its July session.
Most of the draft resolutions endorsed by the Crime Commission need to be adopted by
the Economic and Social Council. Resolution L.2/Rev.2 is the one related to victims; see
paragraph 8 of the draft resolution:
Requests the Secretary-General to convene, within available extrabudgetary resources,
not excluding the use of existing resources from the regular budget of the Office, an
intergovernmental expert group meeting, based on equitable geographical representation

and open to observers, in cooperation with institutes of the United Nations Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme network, to design an information-gathering
instrument in relation to United Nations standards and norms related primarily to victim
issues and to study ways and means to promote their use and application, and to report on
progress made in that connection to the Commission at its sixteenth session.
IEGM November 2006
From 27 to 29 November 2006 Marc Groenhuijsen attended the IEGM of the
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, which aimed (a) to
design an information gathering instrument on standards and norms related primarily to
victim issues and (b) to study ways and means to promote their use and application.
All in all, some 50 people participated. There were delegates from governments such as
Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Marocco, Peru, Poland,
South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, USA and Venezuela. Then there were
representatives of all of the Institutes of the UN Programme Network. Experts at large
were Cyril Laucci from Canada, Beaty Naude from South Africa, Vesna Nicolic from
Serbia and Marc Groenhuijsen from the Netherlands.
The first days were spent on discussing the draft questionnaire (which can be seen on the
internet: please click here. The final day was about the 'means and ways' clause in the
mandate of the IEGM. The end result of this discussion will soon appear on the website
of UNODC. INTERVICT and World Society of Victimology, managed to get three major
ideas incorporated in the final conclusions:
A reference to the Draft Convention that was designed by the Expert Group Meeting
INTERVICT hosted and organised in December 2005;
The idea of 'voluntary peer review' was accepted and included in the conclusions, labeled
as 'voluntary peer sharing';
Governments are encouraged to seek assistance of NGO's in completing the
questionnaire.
The report of the IEGM will be submitted to the Commission on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice at its sixteenth session. The report can be downloaded here.
Conclusions 16th Session Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, April
2007.
From 23-27 April, Marc Groenhuijsen attended the 16th Session of the UN Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, in Vienna, as a representative of the World
Society of Victimology. The overall goals for WSV attendance were:
Attaining higher priority for victims' issues in the UNODC (United Nations Office for
Drugs and Crime)
Explore interest of governments in supporting an initiative to develop and adopt a
Victims' Rights Convention

Ensure follow through on the recommendations from the IEGM last November on the
victim questionnaire and related practical steps to improve implementation of the UN
Declaration (1985).
Several members of the Executive Committee of the WSV, including Marc, addressed the
plenary session of the Commission. The Commission did not support the idea of a
Victims' Rights Convention. The developed victim questionnaire did receive support. See
for more information the Draft Resolution on the UNODC website, item 'Report of the
16th Crime Commission'.