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4.2.4.1 The CIVITAS Concept
The Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women and Youth (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend) has characterized the particularly difficult situation of many victims of right-wing hate crimes in East Germany as »a lack of mobility, much legal uncertainty, communication difficulties due to language restrictions and profound distrust of state authorities and institutions.« (1) Beginning their work under the CIVITAS program in 2001, the victim support organizations (for a list, see Chapter 4.4.3) have all adopted a human rights approach insofar as they support those whose rights as human beings have been infringed upon in their pursuit of justice and reparation within the legal system. When consulting victims, low-threshold services and outreach involving the entire community are central to their approach. Overall, the three key areas of their work can be summarized as: counseling and empowerment, raising awareness and monitoring, and local interventions. (2)
Counseling and Empowerment
The primary objective of victim support organizations is the support and empowerment of victims of right-wing hate crimes as individuals and their social group. The strategies applied should enable the individuals and communities affected to acquire the resources and abilities to deal with the consequences of an attack and, eventually, to move on with their lives. The respective services are free of charge and comprise:• individual psycho-social counseling crisis intervention
• assistance in procuring therapy and rehabilitation in cases of trauma
• legal aid (reporting to authorities, planning action, legal representation etc.)
• cooperation with lawyers
• escort services to doctors and other institutions
• advice and guidance through legal and court proceedings
• assistance in filing applications for victim compensation and other monetary support.
Following the standards developed by the Committee of Victim Counseling Services (arbeitskreis der opferhilfen, ado) in Germany (see Chapter 4.2.4.5), the services offered to the victims are voluntary, confidential and, if requested, anonymous. Filing a police report is not a prerequisite for utilizing the counseling services.
Raising Awareness and Monitoring
The second central goal of victim support organizations is to strengthen awareness in the community and public institutions about the situation of hate crime victims. They use their expertise to improve the abilities of other civil society actors to deal with this kind of incident. Through compiling and publishing information, handouts and documentation, the organizations help the general public become sensitive to the needs of the victims. As a result of their unremitting work, the CIVITAS projects have established themselves as competent and accepted contact partners for journalists and other interested professionals beyond their local context. This is increasingly true for academics of various disciplines who are working on issues of right-wing extremism and hate crime victims.
Local Interventions
Furthermore, victim support organizations have the additional goal of developing local strategies with their clients, contributing to the long-term social integration of different community groups. They equip the victims with the skills to better confront everyday encounters with discrimination on their own and help them build local networks of support. The victim support organizations call this strategy »local intervention.« Each local intervention is case-specific, coordinated with the victim, and seeks to raise awareness about the particular situation of the victim as well as other groups of people in the local community that might also be affected by rightwing violence. These interventions have two main objectives: engaging municipalities on behalf of hate crime victims and helping local communities, politicians and othe rofficials take a clear stand against right-wing manifestations. In addition to bringing together local actors to support the victim and potential victims, local interventions also send a clear signal to the perpetrators that their acts of hate and violence are not accepted by their fellow citizens. Victim support organizations work hard to see that these networking activities continue to expand by promoting and integrating the perspective of hate crime victim assistance in other NGO and political networks. Examples of local intervention strategies include:
• consultation with the victims’ social networks (friends, family members, neighbors etc.)
• consultations with representatives of municipalities and local communities (networking institutions, mobile counseling teams, ombudspersons for migrants and integration, community organizations, church groups, local authorities and administration)
• organization of public meetings and actions for different target groups
• public relations targeting local media
• public relations targeting national media and interest groups.
1. Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend 2003. Leitlinien zur Umsetzung des Programms CIVITAS, Berlin, p. 3.
2. Koordinator der CIVITAS-geförderten Beratungsstellen (ed.) 2003. beraten, informieren, interventieren, Potsdam.
(OPP)
