This brief, submitted on behalf of the Global Initiative Against Impunity (GIAI) and endorsed by FIDH, assesses gaps in the EU’s first Strategy on victims’ rights (2020–2025) and sets out recommendations for the next Strategy (2026–2030), focusing on the rights of victims of serious international crimes in the EU. It examines the Strategy’s stated priorities of empowering victims, improving support and protection, facilitating access to compensation, enhancing coordination, and strengthening the international dimension of victims’ rights. The recommendations draw on the work of consortium members and partners with victims, survivors, and affected communities in the investigation and prosecution of serious international crimes across EU Member States.