Myriam Salama-Carr

Interview: Interpreters in conflict – the view from within

To claim that the role of translators and interpreters in conflict zones has attracted huge interest in recent years, and that linguists ‘‘at war’’ have become a focal point of discussion in the wider discipline, is not an exaggeration. Such academic interest is due to a number of factors, including the high visibility of interpreters that ensues from an increased mediatization of political and military conflicts, the acknowledged acute need for linguistic mediation in zones of conflict and, last but not least, increased interest in the political role of language in interpreting and translation studies. It is also becoming clearer that interpreters operating outside the highly regulated area of high-level conference interpreting are frequently ill-informed about their rights and duties, even though the Geneva conventions recognize the need for linguistic mediation and ‘‘the right to the services of an interpreter’’ (Article 105(1) of the Geneva Convention III, and article 72(3) of the Geneva Convention IV). It is worth noting, too, that in April 2010 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, issued a declaration calling on member states to ‘‘provide better protection for interpreters during and following conflicts’’ (Document 12239, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly). Much of the research carried out so far draws on secondary accounts of interpreting experience or of the use of interpreters, and it is therefore a privilege to be able to talk to Louise Askew, who was directly involved in the Language Service of the NATO-led Multinational Stabilisation Force (SFOR) HQ in Bosnia and Herzegovina (April 2000 June 2004), the body charged with upholding the Dayton Agreement. Louise is currently completing doctoral studies on the politics of language in Bosnia-Herzegovina at the University of Nottingham, where her research focuses on the political challenges of working with three mutually intelligible languages. Louise was working at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague when she was hired to set up and lead the SFOR HQ Language Service in Sarajevo in April 2000. The interview was held in April 2010.