24/04/2012
The
UK dilemma over interpreting services for the justice sector continues
In a recent Skype conference EULITA’s Executive Committee decided to
send a letter to the Lord Chancellor and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for
Justice in which it expressed its concern over the current situation in the UK.
It referred to the fact that the United Kingdom has been renowned for
its tradition of fair trials and respect of human rights throughout the world
for a long time. It pointed out that the right of non-native speakers to
understand and be understood in court is a most essential component of a fair
trial and that the UK’s National Register, based on the Diploma in Public
Service Interpreting, has been a model for many countries. The Executive
Committee therefore thought that it was all the more regrettable that at a
time, when the EU Directive on the right to interpretation and translation in
criminal proceedings is being implemented, the language services that are
currently being provided to the justice sector in the UK appear to be seriously
flawed. As reports indicate there are procedural delays, there are situations
where persons have to be released or – on the contrary – kept in custody, due
to inadequate or unavailable interpreting services. Reports also indicate that
defendants, victims and witnesses, on the one hand, and judges, lawyers and
police officers, on the other hand, will not be able to resort to the services
of qualified and experienced interpreters in the near future, as the qualified
and experienced interpreters who have worked for the justice sector for many
years, are refusing to work under unacceptable working conditions and, in
consequence, are forced to leave the profession.
In the view of the Executive Committee of EULITA the situation in the UK
has reached a deadlock where consultations with the representatives of the
profession in the United Kingdom might offer a basis on which to find a way to
overcome the impasse.
The Executive Committee hopes that in the course of implementing the EU
Directive on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal
proceedings official action will be directed towards reasonable transposition
arrangements which will withstand any challenges under Article 8 of EU
Directive 2010/64/EU.
Liese Katschinka, President
on behalf of the Executive Committee of EULITA
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