| Summary: | State compensation is considered a complementary tool for victims of crimes’ access to restorative justice. Particular benefits with state compensation for trafficked persons is the non-involvement of the offender, which by the nature of the crime usually implies a major obstacle for their access to financial compensation. The access to compensation for cross border victims - which includes victims of trafficking - and the importance of enforcing victims of crimes’ right to justice and equality before the law, has undergone a major actualization in step with the free movement - which led to an increased mobility across EU-borders. The correlation between equality before the law -as an expression for cross border victims’ access to state compensation regardless of citizenship- and the prevailing increasement of freedom of movement in the EU will among others be analyzed down Dworkin’s perception on equality and freedom as reciprocal musts. The right to compensation for victims of trafficking is established in binding EU-acts and therefore requires compliance, particularly since Directive 2004/80/EG - which enforces cross border victims’ right to compensation - was adopted. Due to the lack of contrasting research in the area of victims’ access to state compensation in the EU-member states five different countries is hereby being analyzed, intending to compare national policies on compensation and their compliance with Directive 2004/80/EG. The member states in focus are Spain, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Italy. My conclusion asserts that the member states do comply with the EU-obligations on compensation but the protection of trafficked persons’ right - and access to- state compensation is notwithstanding beneath contempt and requires urgent progress.
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