FEATURES
When interpreter
training saves lives
Christine Pocock on a challenging mission to support
interpreters working with trafficked people in Romania
At the European Emergency Transit Centre
for refugees in Timişoara many of the
survivors are victims of violence and torture.
They may also have been enslaved, trafficked
and treated brutally – organ trafficking being
one of the fastest escalating threats. Various
Romanian agencies work to bridge the time
gap between life-saving evacuation and
well-prepared final resettlement in third
countries. Professionally qualified interpreters
are an essential human resource in that
process, but unfortunately they are not
always available or appropriately trained for
this challenging area of interpreting, where
impartiality is paramount.
Generație Tânără România (GTR),1 a nonpolitical, non-religious and not-for-profit NGO
has been an implementing partner of UNHCR
projects since 2005, and is one of the
agencies working in this area. Last year, their
President, Mariana Petersel, spoke at the
AGM of the Interpreting Division (ID), with
great passion about her humanitarian work
with trafficked people. Outlining her day-today work, she highlighted the enormous
political and logistical challenges faced by the
GTR in trying to combat human trafficking
across Europe and in rehabilitating its victims.
The European Emergency Transit Centre
(ETC) was established following a tri-partite
agreement, signed in May 2008 by the
Romanian government, the International
Organisation for Migration and UNHCR (the
UN refugee agency).2 Its remit is to provide a
short-term safe haven for refugees in urgent
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The Linguist
need of evacuation and resettlement who
cannot be resettled in the countries from
which they have come. This may be due to
threatening security issues or, most
significantly, the immediate risk of
'refoulement' – ie, a forced return to their
home country or country of first refuge.
The refugees are of all ages, genders and
nationalities, arriving from across Africa and
the Middle East, often by the most circuitous
of routes. As a result, they frequently have no
official papers (these can take months to
replace), and often have urgent medical
needs. 'In this context, the importance of the
interpretation, as well as the person who
delivers it, must not be overlooked, as it is an
essential element in the crucial first steps
towards successful rehabilitation and
reintegration of the victims,' explained
Mariana Petersel at the ID AGM. It was clear
from her talk that local interpreters are not
always aware of the most appropriate mode
of interpreting for interviews with severely
traumatised people.
In urgent need
Gabriele Bocanete, an ID Committee
member, born and educated in Timişoara,
had visited both GTR and the ETC, and felt
that their need was urgent. So, in May this
year, Gabriela and I, together with fellow ID
volunteers Andrea Duristova and Dr Jan
Cambridge, embarked on a challenging
mission to deliver a three-day masterclass in
impartial working for interpreters in
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
Timişoara. We had obtained sponsorship for
travel, accommodation and subsistence costs
from a variety of external sources.3
The training was aimed at interpreters
working in human-trafficking and refugee
environments. For this pilot programme, we
had asked GTR to identify an appropriate
group of people, who completed our
interpreter profile sheet in advance. This
included questions about their current
employment, foreign language qualifications,
previous interpreting experience and personal
learning objectives. They were also sent a
pack of essential pre-reading materials.
The incredibly motivated group of 20 came
from all walks of life, including university
lecturers (from the departments of modern
languages and psychology), teachers, social
workers, a bank employee and a freelance
technical writer. Some had interpreted for
GTR; others had no previous formal
interpreting experience. Such was their
dedication that they had re-organised
childcare, work hours and family
commitments in order to be there, and all
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