UNITY: Universal Court Documentation for Accessible Information for Vulnerable Victims

Project duration 
June 2026 – May 2028

Donor 
European Union

About the project 

The overall objective of the project is to improve information and communication quality in the criminal justice system for persons with disabilities. This directly contributes to enhancing overall access to justice, information and communication for women, older persons, and persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities, with a strong intersectional and multidisciplinary approach.

Specific Objectives: 

• Create guidance and tools on how to produce accessible, gender and age-inclusive legal documentation and information on victims’ rights, proceedings, including on compensation;

• Build capacity of criminal justice and support professionals on how to produce and impart accessible information and communication, including in remote hearings, in Easy-to-Read, plain language and with AAC symbols, with the support of generative AI tools, in an intersectional manner;

•Improve accessibility of court and victim support services through protocols and tools of individual needs assessments, templates and interview formats to modernise how information and communication is assured in compatibility with diverse forms of communication, in a disability, age and gender appropriate language;

•Optimise coordination and collaboration with disability organisations and accessibility services to ensure accessibility of court and support services information and documentation.

Project implementing partners: 

Validity Foundation – Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (Hungary), Sabine Lobnig Consulting & Translations (Austria), Victim Support Malta Foundation (Malta), Victim and Witness Support Service (Croatia), Portuguese Association for Victim Support (Portugal), Fenacerci (Portugal), Confederacion Plena Inclusion Espana (Spain), Funka Foundation (Sweden).

Project budget: 519 090.35 EUR
Our part in the budget: 56 098.33 EUR

Reference number: 101299215

This project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.