15th October
Roma victims of crime in Glasgow 'struggle to gain
justice'
More must be done to help Glasgow's Roma
community access justice, a leading prosecutor has said.
Advocate Depute Kath Harper has told of the difficulty in securing an
interpreter who could support Roma victims of human trafficking to give
evidence.
Following the conviction of four people charged with bringing vulnerable
women from Slovakia to the UK, Ms Harper said even after "strenuous
efforts" a translator could not be found.
She said: "I think
there is real problem, or the potential for a real problem, for Roma speakers
to access justice.
"We made strenuous efforts to get a Roma interpreter but we just
couldn’t get one.
"From this trial, this is a learning opportunity and I’m not sure
how we’re going to overcome that.
"Interpretation particularly with Roma is something we’re going to
have to look at because the Roma community, I suppose they are quite vulnerable
to this sort of trafficking so if we want to allow them access to the justice
system we’re going to have to find a way to communicate with them." […]
