impartial, respectful and professional manner.”63 This training “should include training on the specific support services to which victims should be referred or specialist training where their work focuses on victims with specific needs and specific psychological training, as appropriate.(…) Moreover, persons who are likely to be involved in the individual assessment to identify victims' specific protection needs and to determine their need for special protection measures should receive specific training on how to carry out such an assessment.”64 Specific challenges with respect to accessing the right to information Many of the challenges in informing detainees of their rights as victims flow directly from the detention context described above. The difficulty in seeing violence in detention as a criminal offence, and the detainee who suffers from it as a victim, means that the Victims’ Rights apparatus under the 2012 Directive is rarely, if ever, triggered. Detainees are rarely, if ever, informed of their rights as victims at any stage of their detention. Three key reasons for this were identified: (i) Publicly-available information is not available in places of detention; In some Member States, there is often a lot of information on Victims’ Rights available online, provided by Victim Support Services, lawyers and NGOs. For instance, victims can generally find information about support services from an internet search. Detainees, however, often have limited access to computers, the internet or even telephones, in particular in pre-trial detention, preventing them from accessing these resources. This was confirmed in all of the six countries in which research was conducted. Limited access to information on Victims’ Rights is in part explained by the fact that Victim Support Services and public authorities do not identify detainees as an “at risk” group requiring deliberate and positive action to ensure they can access their rights. Detention Staff do not identify victims of violence and fail to inform them of their rights (iii) When information is provided, it is in a language that is not sufficiently accessible. Detention Staff are often the only authority with which detained victims will come into contact. As discussed below, detainees will only rarely take the risk of reporting a crime. The requirement to provide information does not, however, have to be triggered by the victim. The Detention Administration and its staff should identify a victim and inform them of their rights. Yet, when Detention Administration or staff become aware of a possible victimisation situation, they do not provide the information required under 2012 Directive as they are unaware of these rights, and do not consider themselves to be under any obligation to provide information. In a non-detention context, various public services and private organisations are trained to identify victimisation situations and to provide information to victims on their rights. These are usually Law Enforcement Authorities and Victim Support Services. NGOs, health care institutions and lawyers specialised in Victims’ Rights may also refer victims to Victim Support Services who will in turn inform them of their rights. These organisations, professionals and services do not usually go to Detention Centres and victims in detention have limited or no means of contacting them, in particular if they are not aware of their right to do so. Defence or immigration lawyers could also provide information on Victims’ Rights but (as discussed below) access to lawyers is sometimes difficult, in particular access to legal aid lawyers as victims of crime rather than as defendants in a criminal case or the subject of an immigration case. 26 Prison authorities in Austria have the obligation to inform victimised detainees of the possibility to be put in touch with Victim Support Services. If the detainee consents (for data protection reasons), Prison authorities have the obligation to inform Victim Support Services by phone and in writing. (ii) Detention Staff are not trained to identify victims or inform them of their rights; and Difficulty in accessing public information on Victims’ Rights 63 64 65 Good practice – Austria Typically in pre-trial detention, the Detention Administration must inform detainees of their rights and duties as detainees when they are admitted to the Detention Centre, in line with various international and European standards.65 They are usually provided with this information through a copy of the Detention Centre’s internal regulations. Information on their rights usually includes the Detention Centre’s internal regulations, the right to file internal (usually with the director of the Detention Centre) or external complaints to monitoring bodies (such as NPMs and Ombudspersons) on Articles 25(1) of the 2012 Directive. Recital 61 of the 2012 Directive. See e.g., United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules), Rule 54, General Assembly A/RES/70/175, 2015, available at: https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/C.3/70/L.3; UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, adopted by UN general Assembly Resolution no. 43/173, 9 December 1988 (UN Body of Principles), Principle 13, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/DetentionOrImprisonment.aspx; EPR, Rule 30.1 et sec, available at: https://rm.coe.int/european-prison-rules-978-92871-5982-3/16806ab9ae; UNHCR, Compilation of International Human Rights Law and Standards on Immigration Detention, February 2018, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/protection/detention/5afc1b927/compilation-international-human-rights-law-standards-immigration-detention.html