Rights of Victims, Challenges for Corporations. Project’s First Findings

The publication presents the first findings of the EU-funded project titled “Victims and Corporations” (www.victimsandcorporations.eu). European Union Directive 2012/29/UE introduces a ‘system’ of minimum standards on the rights, support and protection for victims of crimes, and their participation to criminal proceedings, without prejudice to the rights of the offender. Within the scope of the Directive and its definition of ‘victim’, though, there is a relevant group of victims who have not yet received enough consideration, and whose access to justice may be at stake. It is the victims of corporate crimes, and particularly of corporate violence, meaning those criminal offences committed by corporations in the course of their legitimate activities, which result in harms to natural persons’ health, integrity, or life. Within the vast area of corporate crime, the project and this publication focus on three main strands of victimisation: environmental crime, food safety violations and offences in the pharmaceutical industry with the aim to explore intersections and potential synergies between Directive 2012/29/EU and the existing body of EU legal tools in these three sectors. The publication starts from an overview of the current ‘state of the art’ with respect to the general issue of victims’ rights, support and protection in light of the EU Directive. An examination of the European, international and national (Belgium, Germany, Italy) legal background is also carried out. An analysis of the promising business and human law perspective also integrates this initial overview. A thorough study of the existing criminological and victimological literature on corporate crime, its harms, and its victims, is presented as a basis for a first attempt at assessing the negative consequences of environmental crimes and food and drugs safety violations for communities and individuals. The issues related to access to justice by victims of corporate violence are studied through a survey of judicial cases in different Countries (especially Belgium, Germany, Italy).