Victims of Crime and Exploitation

The C-MISE Guidance and the country reports of the Safe reporting project provide information on practices that municipalities across Europe have adopted to promote the reporting of crime and exploitation by victims and witnesses with irregular migration status living in their communities. These practices may offer a blueprint for other local authorities fighting the underreporting of crime among their migrant communities.

Irregular migrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and being victims of crime including labour exploitation, trafficking and domestic violence, because of their limited ability to obtain support from law enforcement authorities. Beyond cultural and linguistic barriers, victims and witnesses of crime with an irregular migration status tend to refrain from reporting it to the police for fear of being arrested and deported. This is particularly true in countries where an irregular migration status is a crime under national law. Irregular migrants thus generally mistrust law enforcement authorities, which may translate into high levels of underreporting of crime in municipalities with a significant migrant population.

COMPAS’ Safe Reporting project, shed light on the risks for crime victims with irregular migration status, and their limited possibilities in law and practice to report crime ‘safely’ in the United States and four EU countries. Under the EU Victims’ Directive, victims’ rights shall apply to victims in a non-discriminatory manner, independently of their residence status. In its Victims Strategy, the European Commission is set to assess legal and practical tools to improve reporting of crime and access to support services for migrant victims, independently of their residence status.

Municipal competences in relation to policing may be limited, yet municipal competences on ‘community safety’ and on local police bodies allows municipalities to take action to incentivise “safe reporting” practices. Local authorities have an interest in developing practices that enable local residents, irrespective of their migration status, to reach out to the local police as this reduces the risk of crime going unreported in their territory. At the same time, local police may better ensure public security by establishing safe and trusted interactions with all residents.

Municipalities can, for instance, coordinate with local law enforcement to ensure that migrants with irregular status use all available options in law to report crime to the local police without fear of deportation. Dutch municipalities have initiated the pratice of 'firewalls' and supported the adoption, at the national level, of ‘firewall’ policies through the ‘Free in, free out’ practice, a policy reassuring that migrants reporting a crime would not be arrested for immigration enforcement purposes when reaching out to the police to report crime. Municipalities may also engage in outreach and public campaigns informing migrants with irregular status of their entitlements to seek out the help of the local police, where possible without incurring the risk of deportation. Municipalities can also set-up dedicated local hubs, where migrant victims can seek safe advice on the available options to safely report crime and access protection and services locally. Municipalities have also been providing shelters for migrant victims escaping violence, as for instance has been often the case for situations of domestic violence, where reporting a crime is particularly challenging if the victim does not have access to a safe place to shelter from a situation of abuse. The long-standing practices of municipalities in North-America can also offer examples of good practices for European municipalities.

Irregular migrants are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and crime including labour exploitation, trafficking and domestic violence, because of their limited ability to obtain support from law enforcement authorities. Beyond cultural and linguistic barriers, victims of and witnesses to crime in an irregular condition refrain from reporting it to the police for fear of being arrested and deported. Irregular migrants thus generally mistrust law enforcement authorities, which translates into high levels of underreporting of crime by migrant victims and witnesses.

Often, in Europe, municipal competences in relation to policing are limited or none, yet in some national contexts municipalities have competences on ‘community safety’ and some oversight on local police bodies. Municipalities can coordinate with local law enforcement to ensure that migrants with irregular status use all available options in law to report crime to the local police without fear of deportation. Municipalities may also engage in outreach and public campaigns informing migrants with irregular status of their entitlements to seek out the help of the local police, where possible without incurring the risk of deportation.

Why local authorities get involved

To have a section of the local population refrain from reporting crime entails serious security and public order concerns. Developing practices that enable irregular migrants to reach out to the local police reduces the risk of crime underreporting.
Building migrant’s trust towards law enforcement authorities increases the police’s opportunity to obtain crucial information to tackle crime within diaspora communities. In cities with a significant migrant population, the opportunity to develop interaction between the police and all migrants may be of great support for the police in gathering essential information to prevent and address criminality.
Allowing irregular migrants to report a crime ensures their access to justice, their protection against violence, and respect of their fundamental rights.
Facilitating interaction between local police bodies and irregular migrants – beyond allowing access to justice and protection for victims – helps address crime locally, especially in urban realities with a significant migrant population.

Legal and policy background

In June 2020, the EU adopted its first-ever Strategy on Victims’ Rights setting out its priorities for the next five years (2020-2025) in this area to reinforce the rights and protections of victims of crime. The strategy focuses on improving coordination among actors that are critical to ensuring victims’ protection and safety, and on the need to take specific steps to support victims in situations of vulnerability.
The FRA119 and the European Commission120 have recommended that national authorities adopt practices that ensure irregular migrants can report crime without risking apprehension and removal.
Directive 2012/29/EU (the ‘Victims Directive’) sets out rights, support and protection measures that explicitly apply to all victims of crime, irrespective of their residence status. These include e.g. the right of victims to be informed of their rights and their case in a way they understand; to make a complaint in a language they understand; and to access support services in a free and confidential way.
EU Member States’ policies show an increasing awareness of the need to ensure irregular migrants are able to report crime and access justice and have been introducing legislation allowing the issuance of special residence permits for victims of certain criminal offences (e.g. domestic violence) who report the crime and/or cooperate with police investigations and prosecutions. EU law also provides the possibility of issuing special residence permits to victims of trafficking and serious labour exploitation.
National reforms inspired by local practices in this area have been introduced in the Netherlands where Amsterdam police’s ‘free in, free out’ policy was adopted at national level on the occasion of the transposition into Dutch law of the EU Victims Directive in 2015.
Some cities such as Frankfurt, use the responsibilities that the Istanbul Convention puts on State bodies to protect victims of violence leading to an increase in the places of shelter.
In the UK guidelines were issued by the National Police Chiefs Council (December 2018) to the effect that information on immigration status will no longer be passed automatically to the immigration authorities: ‘When someone reports a crime police will always, first and foremost, treat them as a victim … The police priority is to protect victims and investigate crime, and we are extremely careful about doing anything to deter victims from reporting to us’.

What can be done by local authorities? The ‘free in, free out’ policy

The key element of the ‘free in, free out’ policy is the choice – formally or informally adopted by police management – to prioritise prosecution of crime over immigration enforcement, by instructing police officers to refrain from investigating the immigration status of individuals reporting a crime and/or apprehending individuals with irregular status reporting a crime, unless suspected themselves of committing a crime. The policy is accompanied by outreach activities in local migrant communities that aim to inform residents of their right to report a crime without risking apprehension and deportation, and to build trust towards law enforcement authorities:

The local police of Amsterdam adopted the ‘free in, free out’ policy in 2013. Local police officers are instructed not to ask about the immigration status of individuals reporting a crime. A local police officer is charged with ensuring the functioning of the policy and that colleagues in the local police are aware of what is expected of them. Amsterdam’s police sought the cooperation of individuals and organisations trusted by the diaspora community (including churches, NGOs, and migrant organisations) to disseminate information on the means of reporting crime and to build trust in the service. Police refrained from patrolling the premises of organisations offering support to irregular migrants. They distributed leaflets outlining the policy in Dutch and English, which migrants could hand to police officers when reporting a crime to make sure that the officer they interact with is aware of the policy and refrains from apprehending the migrant, and to explain why the migrant cannot show an appropriate identification document

Outreach on the rights of victims with irregular immigration status

Outreach activities are aimed at informing migrants of their rights as victims of crime, including (where existing) their right to report a crime without risking identification for immigration purposes or the right to obtain a special residence permit for victims of certain crimes who cooperate with police investigations or prosecutions. Municipalities may engage in raising awareness of the possibilities offered in the city and by national legislation to increase the reporting of crime by victims of specific crimes with irregular migration status.

Funding shelters for victims escaping violence

For crimes involving situations of domestic violence, reporting a crime is particularly challenging if the victim does not have access to a safe place to shelter from the perpetrator of the crime. This is particularly true for victims with irregular migration status (or those who might lose their residence permit if they escape from their violent spouse, as their permit is dependent on that relationship), who experience obstacles in accessing state-run shelters.

Municipalities can fund the running of shelters for victims with irregular migration status who need to escape a situation of violence.

In Sweden, the City of Gothenburg passed a motion to reimburse non-profit shelters providing a protected space for irregular migrant women escaping violence, with the specific aim of reducing domestic violence in the city. The local Municipal Emergency Shelter for Women has similarly been instructed to provide other assistance and protection to women in an irregular condition. The City of Stockholm has a similar policy regarding shelters for women escaping violence.

One of Utrecht’s shelters for irregular migrants is specifically dedicated to accommodating women and children, as well as providing financial, legal and medical assistance, especially if fleeing violence.
In 2021, the City of Frankfurt started to fund some places in women’s shelters for victims of domestic violence regardless of their welfare entitlements as part of the Implementation of the Istanbul Convention. In Cardiff, Bawso is an NGO particularly active in providing support to ethnic minority women affected by abuse, violence and exploitation. It provides emergency accommodation at refuges and safe houses, as well as a vast array of services including advocacy and advice, outreach services, and empowerment programmes. It works in collaboration with the municipality and local authority staff may refer individuals to them when needed.
In Vienna, women’s shelters as well as flats for victims of human trafficking are open to migrant women with precarious status. However, there is a lack of follow-up options if women are not entitled to homelessness assistance and social housing. The lack of longer-term perspectives may make it hard for women to leave abusive and violent settings.

Victims of Crime and Exploitation