Throughout the courts of Norway, Red Cross volunteers are busy providing psychological support—more than 300 volunteers work with almost 1,000 witnesses and victims of crime. Norwegian student and pensioner volunteers are helping the most vulnerable groups in our society to properly prepare for trials and lose their fear of giving evidence.

How do these volunteers contribute to the carriage of justice, and could such a support network of court volunteers take hold in Lithuania? These questions were at the forefront of the discussion that took place in Vilnius between representatives from Lithuanian, Latvian and Norwegian NGOs and justice and law enforcement authorities.

Imperative to protect witnesses and victims

Speaking at the event "Help for Witnesses and Victims of Crime: Cooperation Between Courts and NGOs," Human Rights Monitoring Institute legal and policy advisor Mėta Adutavičiūtė thought that the fundamental problem lay with the criminal process being unclear, misleading and not always suited to the needs of the victim.

"The justice system focuses more on the suspect and his prosecution. On the other hand, the victim is left standing in some corner of the court hall, lost and afraid to even move, before trial," said Ms. Adutavičiūtė, citing an HRMI study titled "Victims' Rights Directive: A New Perspective on Victims of Domestic Violence."

She claims that victim experiences are very diverse and that Lithuania lacks a unified approach to dealing with them during various stages of the pre-trial investigation, with regard to the complexity of each situation. "Victims should be treated respectfully, sensitively, individually, professionally and without discrimination. It is imperative to enable victims to prepare for giving evidence in court in advance [of the trial]. We also need clear regulations that would outline the right to physical protection of those victims that feel unsafe during court proceedings."

Special training for court staff and NGOs

The experts and practitioners with experience in volunteer work with witnesses and victims of crime were happy to note that Lithuanian courts have begun to implement the very first measures for ensuring the safety of witnesses and victims of crime—qualified psychologists working at the largest regional courts are currently slowly building a uniform system for providing psychological help in court.

A virtual courtroom will begin operation in March, with special training on the psychological support of witnesses and victims of crime during court proceedings available to court staff and NGO representatives. This courtroom will be funded from the National Courts Administration project "Better Support for Witnesses and Victims of Crime During Court Proceedings, Including Increasing Security in Court."