Thank you for using the Victim Support Hub (VSE Hub or VSH) and the products, services and features we make available to you as part of the platform.

The VSE Hub offers a platform for debate and interaction between thought leaders, policymakers, professionals and victim advocates. VSH aims to stimulate dialogue and spread awareness on critical issues related to supporting victims ranging from advocacy, policy and justice to information, education and support.

Our mission is to connect our users and members, by providing a platform on which ideas, thoughts and questions can be expressed and tackled in an open environment, enabling members to meet, exchange ideas, learn, and find opportunities. The VSE Hub allows you to discover, share content, provides a forum for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across Europe and the globe.

We are particularly interested in writings that suggest a point of view and that provide perspectives for new policies, strategies, actions or ways of thinking about issues in supporting victims. We are looking for information and ideas that cover new ground, challenge current thinking, and explode myths. We also encourage the sharing of first-hand narratives that explore, through the writer’s experience, an issue or aspect of supporting victims in ways that would appeal to a wide range of readers.

We want to hear from all users and have your active, frequent participation, thoughts, ideas and even respectfully delivered criticism.

In this spirit, we ask you to provide respectful and polite contributions to the Hub and to respect the Terms of Usage and Conduct.

These Terms of Usage and Conduct apply to all spaces on this online platform, including private and hidden channels and direct messaging. Any violation of these Terms may be subject to sanctions at the discretion of the Hub administration Team.

We reserve the right to make any changes or modifications to the terms of usage and conduct at any stage. In case of such modifications, the date referred to as “Last updated” at the bottom of this document will be adapted accordingly. You are deemed to be aware of these changes after their date of publication. Your continued engagement on the Hub will be regarded as the acceptance of any such changes and modifications.

The rules contained in these Terms of usage and conduct are not meant to replace applicable laws. The VSE Hub users should respect applicable legislation as well as local customs and traditions.

Our Community Guidelines are designed to ensure our community stays protected. They set out what is allowed and what is not allowed on VSH, and apply to all types of content on our online platform. The safety of our users is our highest priority. We look to each of you to help us protect this unique and vibrant community.

In general, users are expected to be active members within the VSH community that respect the following guidelines.

Respect Honesty and Transparency. 

You are expected to use your actual name, including when posting comments or participating in discussions. You may not represent yourself as another person, or imply any connection with any person or organisation with which you are not in fact associated. Do not post misleading or deceptive information about yourself, your business, your qualifications, work experience, affiliations, or achievements. Do not use an image of someone else, or any other image that is not your likeness, for your profile photo. 

Please refrain from sharing false or misleading content. Do not share content in a way that you know is, or think may be, misleading or inaccurate, including misinformation or disinformation. Do not share false content or information, including news stories, that present untrue facts or events as though they are true or likely true. 

You are responsible for the content you post. This includes information, text, photos, messages and the like. If you did not create the content that you post, it is your responsibility to ensure you have the necessary consent.

Respect Peacefulness. 

You are expected to express and act delicately and sensitively. Violent content intended to shock or disgust users, or content inciting violence are not allowed on VSH.

If you believe anyone is in imminent danger, please report the situation immediately.

Respect Diversity. 

It is an ethnically rich and diverse, multi-cultural world in which we live. The VSE Hub is committed to supporting diversity. Diversity entails acceptance and respect of individual differences.

Use no language that is—or that could be construed to be—offensive toward others. Racist, sexist, and heterosexist comments and jokes are deemed unacceptable.

Hate speech is not allowed on VSH, in particular content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on any of the following attributes: Victims of a violent event and their kin, Age, Disability, Ethnicity, Sex/Gender, Gender Identity and Expression, Sexual Orientation, Nationality, Religion, Race, Immigration Status.

Additionally, content promoting or glorifying terrorism and content contributing to radicalisation are against our policy.

Respect for other members of the community and their privacy. 

Every member of this community is valued and appreciated. We do not allow bullying or harassment. This includes abusive language, revealing others’ personal or sensitive information (aka “doxing”), or inciting or engaging others to do any of the same.

Confidential information is information that has not been publicly disclosed. Any disclosure, either intentionally or in error, of confidential information, pertaining to organisations or individuals, could result in considerable damage and is therefore forbidden. You are not allowed to disclose, publish or otherwise make available, any confidential information, even when expressly authorised by the person/organisation.

Criticism must be constructive, well-meaning, and well-articulated.

Users should not speak about member organisations’ internal matters or about staff. It is further not permitted to encourage rumours that could damage the reputation of individuals or member organisations.

The VSE Hub is intended to be a respectful environment.

Respect the virtual space and virtual property. 

Do not use the VSE Hub to spam other users, including sending identical and irrelevant submissions to many different discussion groups, mailing lists or communities.

You are not permitted to intentionally upload, post or submit anything that contains viruses or cancel bots, Trojan horses, harmful code, or other computer software programs designed to interrupt the VSE Hub and/or any user’s participation on this Hub.

Victim Support Europe is keen to protect its intellectual property and to respect the intellectual property rights of Hub users. By engaging in VSE Hub activities, users generate valuable ideas, concepts, models, theories and strategies. This intellectual property plays a central part in their work and must be protected against misuse.

Intellectual property can take many forms, such as the name, logo (trademarks), copyrights, domain names, concepts, tools, ideas, information, surveys, data, formats, methodologies, “know how”, processes, designs, operating procedures, strategies, IT developments.

Respect for mental health and well-being. 

At VSE Hub, we take the health and well-being of all our users seriously. Awareness and understanding of mental health are important. We support users sharing their stories, such as posting content discussing their experiences with depression or other mental health issues. Users should not be afraid to speak openly about the topics of mental health or self-harm. However, we do not allow content on VSE Hub that promotes suicide, self-harm, or is intended to shock or disgust users.

If you are depressed, having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, please know that you can reach out for help and you are not alone. Many people turn to suicidal thinking and self-harm as ways to cope with painful emotions. Talking to a specialist can help you identify healthy, effective coping strategies and develop skills to manage difficult feelings.

The websites www.befrienders.org and suicide.org have extensive lists of suicide prevention organisations dedicated to helping those in need in different countries. 

If you come across content in which someone expresses suicidal thoughts or is engaging in self-harm, please contact local emergency services for help and bring this matter to our immediate attention.

Kindly note that the administrators of the Hub will carry out review and control.

As a matter of first resort, if you feel that other members are behaving contrary to these Terms of Conduct and Usage, you may choose to raise your concerns with the author directly. If that is the case, please remain respectful and polite and express your concerns clearly, while focusing on the content of the disputed material and not on the personality of the author.

If you prefer Hub administrators to address the issue instead, please contact us directly. In this case, we will aim to maintain the identity of reporters anonymous whenever possible. However, we cannot guarantee that their anonymity can be ensured in every situation.

Victim Support Europe is committed to respecting the privacy of Hub users and thereby complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For more information, please review the Privacy Policy page here.

Victim Support Europe is not responsible for information, opinions and materials shared on the Hub.

Please refrain from posting materials protected by intellectual property rights without permission.

The administrators of the Hub monitor the activity on the Hub, as well as conduct more extensive review and control, where necessary.

Hub administrators reserve the right to take appropriate action when it comes to their attention that these Terms of Usage and Conduct and/or the aim of the online Hub have been violated. This may also be the case when a user has reported an interaction on the Hub.

When a violation has occurred, it is at the discretion of the Hub administrators to determine which actions should be taken. This may include all or any of the following actions:

• Issue of a warning;
• Removal of reported information or information in breach of the terms of usage and conduct;
• Temporary withdrawal of the right to engage on all or some parts of the online Hub;
• Temporary or permanent suspension of the membership.

Please contact [email protected], if you have further questions.

The Victim Support Hub (VSE Hub or VSH) was developed by Victim Support Europe to provide its members, victim support organisations, civil society, individual experts and other entities working in the field the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences on the rights and needs of victims. In doing so, it aims to connect stakeholders and facilitate virtual discussions and networking across borders.

Our website address is: https://victimsupporthub.eu/.

According to Article 4(7) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR), the data protection controller is:

Victim Support Europe
Rue Froissart 123-133
1040 Brussels
Belgium

Victim Support Europe (we or us) is the leading European umbrella organisation advocating on behalf of all victims of crime. We process personal data in compliance with the GDPR. We strongly believe that data subjects have the right to control the use of their personal information, and that their privacy must be respected. This privacy and cookie policy is made as a part of information obligation under GDPR. We reserve the right to modify our Privacy Policy, which will be uploaded to our website. We advise you to review it to check any material changes.

We limit the processing of personal data to the strictly necessary. Your personal data is processed for specific purposes, which may very depend on the nature or type of interactions you have on the Victim Support Hub.

We only process personal data when we have a legal basis for doing so. For example, we collect personal data through the creation of your member profile with your consent. As you use the website, technical data will be collected by cookies, which you can enable or disable (see section on cookies). The processing of exact sets of data will depend on individual cases. For example, if a data subject contacts us by e-mail or through our contact form, the e-mail address and the full name, will be stored by our server.

Examples of data we may collect:

• Full name
• Email address
• Photograph
• Country
• Company name
• IP address
• Areas of interest
• Cookies session data

The personal data collected will be stored in secure servers which are operated by trusted service providers (Microsoft, Google, WordPress). These trusted service providers will also administer our incoming and outgoing messages on the VSE Hub. We use reasonable administrative, technical, personnel and physical security measures to safeguard personal information in its possession against loss, theft and unauthorised use or modification. For example, we ensure that the data is encrypted both in transit and during storage.

Transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Please note that any unencrypted e-mails sent to us are not protected against unauthorised access during transmission. However, once we receive information from data subjects, we use procedures and security features to prevent any unauthorised access.

Data subjects have the right to access, request a copy of their personal information, erasure, restriction of processing, the right to file objections to processing and the right to data portability. Data subjects have also the right to request any inaccuracies in their personal information be corrected. Data subjects have the right to revoke their consent to data processing at any time.

If a data subject objects to data processing, we cease processing the personal data unless we have a compelling legitimate interest to process personal data that would outweigh the interests or rights of the data subject.

We ensure that your personal data will not be kept for longer than necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this privacy policy and to allow us to comply with our legal requirements.

After the period of data retention, limited personal data can be pseudonymised and retained for the statistical purposes. The remaining personal data collected will be erased. 

We do not share or disclose personal data to third parties unless we are legally obliged to do so, or a data subject consents to such data transfer. Our authorised third-party service providers and partners will only receive personal data of data subjects, if this is necessary for delivery of our work output or for execution of any kind of relationship with data subjects.

Any such third-party service provider engaged by us is expected to fully comply with the requirements of the GDPR and this Privacy Policy.

Please find a list of third-parties’ services providers that may process your data depending on your utilisation of the VSE Hub here:

• WordPress
• Buddyboss
• Learndash
• WPForms

Data subjects have the right to raise a complaint on how we have handled their personal data, request information on how their data is being processed and withdraw their consent by contacting our Data Protection Officer.

Data subjects may reach Victim Support Europe’s Data Protection Officer at [email protected] or at Rue Froissart 123-133, 1040-Bruxelles.

Complaints may also be lodged with the Belgian Data Protection Authority – Rue de la Presse 35, 1000 – Bruxelles.

We use cookies to allow us to personalise customers’ visits to our website, keep track of their preferences and learn about the way they use the website, i.e. for statistical and analytical purposes. However, we honour do not track requests. We use cookies:

• to provide certain basic features of the website;
• to enhance the functionality of the website;
• to help improve the performance of our website.

We require data subjects to accept or decline certain cookies by accepting or declining our Cookie Consent Notice when first accessing our website. Data subjects can accept or decline the following cookies:

• necessary cookies;
• preferred cookies;
• statistics cookies;
• marketing cookies.

By accepting and using our websites a data subject consents to our use of cookies as updated from time to time. Data subjects may access our Cookie Consent Notice to decline cookies at any time subsequently.

Additionally, data subjects may delete and block all cookies from any website, within their web browser settings if necessary. Restricting or deleting cookies will impact on the functionality of the website.

We embed videos from our official YouTube channel using a privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube will not store personally – identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced mode.

We have also included a number of features, which allow our users to share some of content via Facebook and Twitter. This does not set a cookie by itself, but if one is present, it will read it.

The cookies are stored for a period of two years unless data subjects clear their cache and the cookies themselves. For more information on cookies, please visit aboutcookies.org.

We review our privacy policy regularly and when we do, we will upload the updated version to the Victim Support Hub. The latest effective date will be highlighted at the end of the Privacy Policy. The “effective date” will be revised every time there is an update to this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions regarding the processing of your personal data, please feel free to contact Victim Support Europe’s Data Protection Officer via [email protected].