Victim Support Services do not generally provide services in detention Lack of training or protocol for Detention Administration to contact Victim Support Services Victim Support Services, whether run as public entities or charities, are typically absent from Detention Centres and do not regularly provide services to detainees in any of the Member States studied. The conceptual dichotomy between victims and detainees means that Victim Support Services are not conceived of as being relevant to detainees. When publicly funded, the organic fragmentation of services – to victims or to detainees – may imply that serving detainees is often not understood to be part of the mandate of Victim Support Services. Indeed, as in Croatia, Victim Support Services may not be even permitted access to places of detention. As explained in the context of the right to information and to protection, although the Detention Administration is often the only authority which is likely to be in contact with victims in detention, they lack training and awareness on Victims’ Rights, including on the availability of Victim Support Services. In Belgium, this dichotomy appears clearly. Victim Support Services are provided through publicly-funded NGOs which exist alongside (but separately to) other publicly-funded services for detainees. These provide moral, social, psychological, material and cultural support to detainees and their families and prepare their rehabilitation. Although these two support services are sometimes located within the same building and organisation, there is a clear dichotomy in the services offered. Their target group is either victims or detainees. As a result, Victim Support Services rarely visit Detention Centres and detainees’ support services are not specially trained to inform detainees on their rights or to assist them as victims. In practice, detainee support services rarely ask questions about detention conditions, and if they learn about violence, do not always have the tools to help victims. In addition, it appears that there is no clear protocol for liaison between the two sets of services. 48 Detainees do not contact Victim Support Services For the same reasons observed with other rights under the 2012 Directive, detainees generally do not contact Victim Support Services. This is because they do not see themselves as victims, are not informed of their right to these services, have limited means of communication with the outside world, do not report crimes committed against them, or fear reprisals. In practice, like many other Victims’ Rights, these services are also not accessible unless a criminal complaint is filed. Language barriers are also a difficulty. In most Member States where the research was conducted, Victim Support Services are only accessible by phone for detainees. For foreign detainees, in particular in immigration detention, communication will simply not be possible because the operators taking phone calls rarely speak English, let alone other foreign languages. Detainees may also be reluctant to contact Victim Support Services as they may seem connected with Law Enforcement Authorities because, in some Member States, these services are located with police and therefore not seen to be independent.