Dear respected Victim Support Europe members,

As we welcomed a new calendar year, I hope you have had a good start of 2026. I deeply appreciate your commitment to driving positive change in victims’ issues and I want to thank you for your continued efforts to ensure that every victim of crime is heard, supported, and empowered.

The turn of the year is a time to reflect on what has been and to look ahead to what is required from us. For Victim Support Europe, this is not just a casual reflection. Because what our members do affects the daily lives of people who are involuntarily confronted with traumatic events.

Looking back at 2025, we have much to be proud of together. As a network, we helped shape meaningful progress at European level, most notably by contributing to the political agreement on the revised Victims’ Rights Directive, a major milestone for victims’ access to justice, support and dignity. We strengthened VSE’s strategic voice through a year-long campaign, The Year of Victims’ Rights, spearheaded by VSE and its 80 members, focused on universality, progress, and engagement. The campaign’s pillars were several key anniversaries: the 35th European Day for Victims of Crime, the 5th anniversary of the EU Strategy on Victims’ Rights, the 25th anniversary of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the 40th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime. These milestones highlighted decades of advocacy and reinforced the enduring importance of victim-centred justice. Your expertise, dedication, and tireless work on the ground have been instrumental in making this progress possible.

In 2025, we adopted our new VSE Strategy 2026–2030 with one clear ambition: moving from rights on paper to rights in practice. Your expertise, dedication and tireless work on the ground have been instrumental to making this progress possible.

As we step into 2026, we do so in a world that is increasingly complex and, for many victims, increasingly unsafe, where growing pressures on the rule of law, rising cybercrime and online fraud, growing unsafety behind the front door, persistent gender-based violence, human trafficking, and the devastating impact of terrorism and mass victimisation are not abstract trends but lived experiences that reach the doors of your organisations every single day.

Our new strategy, to be launched in February, addresses these challenges directly. Its seven priorities give us direction and reflect both urgency and opportunity:

– facilitating the effective implementation of EU victims’ laws; 

– mainstreaming victims’ rights across sectors;

– amplifying victims’ voices and fostering a culture of respect and solidarity; 

– maximising access to high-quality support for all victims; 

– pursuing victim-centric solutions globally; 

– building individual and societal resilience, including in response to terrorism and mass victimisation; 

– and strengthening VSE’s organisational capacity and influence

These priorities are interconnected and mutually reinforcing; ambitious but achievable — because they are built on your experience, commitment and collaboration.

Strong today, indispensable tomorrow

Those words sum up where we stand—and where we are going.

In a context of social and political uncertainty, victim support is not only a service — it is a pillar of democracy, social cohesion and trust. When victims are believed, supported and empowered, we strengthen communities, break cycles of harm and reaffirm our shared values of dignity, justice, respect and compassion. When they are not, the consequences ripple far beyond the individual, undermining confidence in institutions and leaving societies more vulnerable to fear, polarisation and exclusion.

The Victim Support Europe network is a constant source of support for victims. Every day, your employees and volunteers demonstrate what that means in practice. In living rooms, in community centres, at police stations, in courts, and digitally. Always with the same intention: to stand by the victim. To ensure that victims are heard. To help them take another step forward today. Our strength lies in this daily work of yours, in your professionalism, in your compassion, and in your willingness to learn from one another across borders. It also lies on being honest about the gaps that remain — the victims who never report, the barriers faced by those who are marginalised, and the harm caused when systems prioritise processes over people.

Together, we have a unique responsibility and a unique opportunity. By working collectively, sharing knowledge and standing united, we can ensure that victims’ perspectives are not an afterthought but a starting point for policy, practice and innovation. We can harness new technologies ethically to expand access and improve support, while never losing sight of the human connection at the heart of our work. And we can continue to speak with a strong, credible European voice that insists that victims’ rights are not optional, but fundamental, a voice that brings the perspectives of victims to the fore, a voicethat continues to say: don’t just look at processes, capacity, and figures, but at people. Together, we have the power to ensure that victims’ perspectives shape policies, practices and public narratives, even in times of political, social and technological upheaval.

I want to thank each one of you — staff, volunteers, leaders and advocates across our network — for the compassion and commitment you bring to our mission every day. What you do affects the daily lives of people who are involuntarily confronted with traumatic events. Your work changes lives, often in moments of profound vulnerability, and it is thanks to you that Victim Support Europe is strong today and will remain indispensable tomorrow.

I look forward to continuing this journey together in 2026, guided by our shared strategy, our shared values and our shared belief that no victim should ever be left behind. Let us enter this new year with pride, realism, and urgency. Because our work matters—today, and tomorrow more than ever.

With warm regards,

Rosa Jansen
President of the Executive Board – Victim Support Europe