Entry | Interpreting and gender-based violence

SPA Interpretación y violencia de género

contents
Introduction | Legislation on gender‑based violence and on the linguistic rights of victims | Gender-based violence interpreting (GBVI): A change of focus | Malpractice and consequences for victims | Training interpreters to work in gender‑based violence settings | Research potential

Introduction

Article 1 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, published by the United Nations (UN) in 1993, describes violence against women as:

[…] Any act of gender‑based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

(UN 1993)

Therefore, this is a comprehensive concept that encompasses all violence exercised against women on grounds of belonging to the female sex, and transcends boundaries of partner, family, domestic or affective relationships.

The abundant existing terminology reflects on the manifold forms of violence against women and therefore we find multiple terms with different shades of meaning in different languages. Some of the most widespread terms used in the Spanish-speaking world to refer to violence suffered by women are ‘violence against women’, ‘macho/misogynist violence’ and ‘gender‑based violence’.

Thus, we need to clarify the definition of violence against women we wish to use. In general terms, gender‑based violence refers to all forms of violence exercised against women based on their sex, i.e., for being a woman. It includes practices such as physical or psychological abuse, economic violence, sexual abuse, rape, female genital mutilation, honour crimes, forced marriages, female infanticide, women trafficking or sexual exploitation, there being legal constraints that condition our use of these terms and their scope.

In order to systematise knowledge, this entry uses the restricted concept of gender‑based violence as defined in Spanish Basic Law 1/2004, of 28^th December, on Integrated Protection Measures against Gender Violence, which refers to violence exercised by men towards women in the context of a present or past affective relationship regardless of cohabitation. However, worth highlighting is that outside the legal sphere, the concept encompasses many more types of violence against women and is interchangeable with other terms such as ‘macho/misogynist violence’ or ‘violence against women’.

Gender‑based violence has a very high incidence on the female population worldwide, regardless of age, social status, level of education, profession, ethnicity, religion, etc. as documented by international organisations such as UN Women, which provides detailed and up-to-date information on the incidence of violence against women worldwide. This is also reflected in several prestigious investigations, such as the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency report Violence against women: An EU-wide survey (2014), which states that in the EU alone:

[…] one in three women (33 %) has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 15. One in five women (18 %) has experienced stalking; every second woman (55 %) has been confronted with one or more forms of sexual harassment. Given this, violence against women cannot be seen as a marginal issue that touches only on some women's lives.

(FRA 2014: 167)

Despite this being a universal phenomenon that affects women of all conditions, there are nevertheless a set of factors that can increase their vulnerability. Thus, for example, the most vulnerable groups include women with disabilities, rural women, girls and migrant or refugee women. As Abril points out (2015: 79-80), migrant women are vulnerable to misogynist violence due to socio‑cultural, psychological and personal factors inherent to their migrant status that often results in greater social, economic and institutional isolation.

Quite often, these migrant or refugee victims of gender-based violence do not speak the language of the country where they are based, and therefore interpreter intervention becomes crucial. However, the rights and security of the victims cannot be guaranteed in absence of the proper professional translation & interpretation services offered to victims or without the necessary specialised training of those who interpret in these contexts (Toledano, Abril, Del Pozo et al. 2015).

Professional competence and absence of prejudice (applicable to all agents in the service provision chain) should also be required of interpreters when assisting migrant women who do not speak the host country language. This may decide whether or not interpreter mediation enables effective exercise of rights by migrant women (Naredo 2015: 43).

Legislation on gender‑based violence and on the linguistic rights of victims

Laws increasingly criminalise violence against women, in order to ensure prosecution and punishment of perpetrators, empower and support victims and survivors, and take measures to prevent these crimes so deeply rooted in the discrimination of women and in the patriarchal system. Thanks to this response, victims today can benefit from civil remedies, such as pensions, housing, subsidies, etc. besides receiving police and legal protection, as well as psychological counselling.

María Isabel Del Pozo Triviño (2017: 27)

There are a great deal of international and national legislative instruments aimed at preventing and eradicating all forms of violence against women and ensuring assistance to victims and survivors. The main international legal instruments worth highlighting are:

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted and open for signature, ratification and accession by the General Assembly in its resolution 34/180, of 18 December 1979.
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (Resolution 48/104, 20 December 1993, adopted by the UN General Assembly).
Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995.
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, 2011, known as the Istanbul Convention, and ratified by many states.

The European Union has no specific legislation on violence against women. However, Directive 2012/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2001/220/JHA, pays special attention to gender‑based violence victims.

In Spain, Basic Law 1/2004, of 28^th December 2004, on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, defines gender‑based violence in these terms:

The purpose of this Law is to combat the violence exercised against women by their present or former spouses or by men with whom they maintain or have maintained analogous affective relations, with or without cohabitation, as an expression of discrimination, the situation of inequality and the power relations prevailing between the sexes.


	Professionals who assist victims

This law was a very important milestone on the road to eradication of violence against women, since it made visible a type of violence which until then remained hidden. It furthermore helped put in place measures to deal with this violence, such as the training of stakeholders who provide services to victims in the different settings or awareness raising to combat stereotypes, among others. However, despite its important contribution, the application of this law is limited to violence suffered by women in heterosexual relations, and thus leaves out other expressions of gender-based violence such as sexual harassment, rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation, etc.

Most national and international laws establish the right of victims to be informed, and thus, to translation and interpretation when they do not speak the language. In line with this, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention) published in 2011 and ratified by Spain in 2014, states in Article 19 that "Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that victims receive adequate and timely information on available support services and legal measures in a language they understand". Moreover, in Article 56 (h), it expressly states that they shall be protected by "providing victims with independent and competent interpreters when victims are parties to proceedings or when they are providing evidence"

At the European Union level, Directive 2010/64/EU requires that Member States put in place mechanisms to ensure quality interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings so that the right to defence and the right to a fair trial can be guaranteed (Hertog 2015a). Although this Directive focuses on defendants, Directive 2012/29/EU extends this right to quality translation and interpretation also to victims (Hertog 2015b).

The legal instruments used by the Spanish government to transpose the aforementioned Directive 2010/64 and others aimed at strengthening the rights of defendants and victims, are Basic Law 5/2015 (for Directives 2010/64/EU and 2012/13/EU) and Law 4/2015 on the Standing of Victims of Crime (for Directive 2012/29/EU). The latter, in Article 9, also establishes the right of victims to translation and interpretation and expressly mentions their right to appeal if denied their right to an interpreter in police or judicial settings. However, there is no mention of the victims' right to appeal in the event that they are not satisfied with the person performing the translation or interpretation (Del Pozo & Baigorri 2015: 19-25).

Despite the existence of legislation, Spain, unlike other countries, does not offer a comprehensive response to communication needs arising between the foreign population and the public services and much too often uses improvised solutions, such as in-house workers with knowledge of languages, volunteers, friends, or family members (sometimes even minors) (Molina 2006). This modus operandi not only produces regrettable consequences for victims (Polzin 2007: 23), whose rights are violated on numerous occasions, but also leads to misuse, or even loss, of public resources that the administrations place at the disposal of the victims (Toledano, Abril, Del Pozo et al. 2015: 141).

Gender-based violence interpreting (GBVI): A change of focus

The study of interpretation in gender‑based violence contexts stems from the richness and complexity of the interpretation activity, which requires an increasing degree of specialisation in order to offer a professional response to the communication needs in environments where at least a part of the users is in a special vulnerability situation. It therefore involves changing the focus from the traditional public service interpreting settings (police, court, health, education, etc.) to the communication situations, which despite being common to these settings, demand for further specialisation, and where the user and the needs of the assistance process are at the centre.

Moreover, this change of approach aims to be consistent and aligned with the socio‑political strategies that seek to provide comprehensive assistance to gender‑based violence victims, where comprehensive assistance includes all phases of the process and implies specialised training of all stakeholders involved. The ultimate aim is to accelerate and make the victims' rights recovery and restitution process more effective, thereby avoiding institutional failure arising from lack of coordination or poor training of personnel (police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, forensic doctors, scientists, family doctors, social workers, psychologists and the entire spectrum of those involved in the assistance process). It is therefore essential to emphasise that, in the case of persons who do not understand the language of the service providers, interpreters are the essential communication link and must be part of the professionalisation and specialisation strategies in order to ensure non-discrimination and full effective comprehensive assistance to these persons (Naredo 2015).

Pioneer research: The SOS-VICS project

The first European -and thus the first Spanish- project focusing on the nature of interpreter‑mediated communication in gender‑based violence contexts was the Speak Out for Support (SOS-VICS) project. This project, co-financed by the Criminal Justice Programme of the European Union and coordinated by the University of Vigo, brought together the work of nine Spanish universities and the collaboration of a strong network of experts and third-party organisations. The main objective of the project was to learn about the distinctive characteristics of GBVI in order to create resources to help improve communication between foreign victims and the agents who assist them, paying special attention to the training of interpreters. The project was carried out over two years (2012-2014) and was developed in three phases.

The first phase compiled and analysed the communication needs of the victims and of the different agents that assist them through comprehensive and thorough fieldwork, which included:

Two focus groups that brought together representatives from all spheres of this communication process (agents, victims and interpreters) (Del Pozo & Fernandes 2018).
A survey addressed to agents experienced in assisting foreign gender‑based violence victims (Del Pozo, Vaamonde, Casado et al. 2014a).
A survey addressed to interpreters experienced in working with foreign gender‑based violence victims (Del Pozo, Vaamonde, Casado et al. 2014b).
Semi-structured interviews with victims and agents.

Information gathered during the second phase was used to produce support and training materials for interpreters and agents as well as for gender‑based violence victims. In particular, the following resources were created:

For interpreters: A handbook entitled ‘Interpreting in gender violence contexts’ (Toledano & Del Pozo 2015) and a training website.
For agents: A good practices guide entitled ‘Interpreter-mediated communication in gender‑based violence contexts. A good practices guide for working with interpreters’ (Borja & Del Pozo 2015).
For victims: a video, a multilingual brochure and poster.

The third phase focused on the dissemination of project results and materials. The highlight of this phase was the First SOS-VICS International Conference ‘Building Communication Bridges in the Field of Gender‑Based Violence’, held at the University of Vigo on the 25^th and 26^th September 2014, which brought together many experts in interpretation and gender‑based violence from various disciplines and countries. The SOS-VICS project team continues to promote research, teaching and professionalisation of GBVI.

Malpractice and consequences for victims

The interpreter was adapting the victim's words, was advising her and even reprimanding her. She happened to be a friend of the victim, so there were two fundamental problems here: the language barrier due to the insufficient command of the language of the person acting as interpreter, and the additional information provided by the person acting as interpreter with regard to what the victim actually said. This is because this interpreter knew what had happened to the victim, and so was filling in the blanks (victim's silences) and adding data, thereby interfering with the psychological evaluation.

Forensic psychologist testimony 2014, SOS-VICS project

The language barrier hinders victims' access to public resources placed at their disposal and many a time non-professional interpretation is an added risk factor. Plenty testimonies of malpractice in GBVI were collected by both the SOS-VICS project (Del Pozo, Vaamonde, Casado et al. 2014a) and by other international bodies such as CEDAW (Naredo 2015: 40) and Amnesty International (2007). Most such research highlights the lack of language assistance, improvisation in the search for solutions to address language barriers and poor quality of assistance provided. The most serious consequences of this situation during the assistance process are inappropriate, inaccurate, and ineffective communication between agents and victims, disinformation and mistrust by women towards services provided, and the constant violation of the rights of victims. Furthermore, studies also detect underutilisation of both human and material resources and a total absence of guarantees during the assistance process (Del Pozo, Toledano, Casado et al. 2015: 10).

Training interpreters to work in gender‑based violence settings

	Most interpreter training initiatives in other countries underpin the importance of comprehensive training, which, together with specialised terminology and the knowledge about interpretation, includes theoretical aspects on gender and gender‑based violence, as well as psychological skills to work in encounters with victims of very traumatic experiences.
	Laura Aguilera Álvarez & Carmen Toledano Buendía (2013: 10-11)

We may consider GBVI as a step forward in training public service interpreters. Thus, interpreters should not only have the required training in Translation and Interpretation but must also receive specialised training to interpret in gender‑based violence contexts. Such training can be approached from multiple perspectives and delivered in several formats. Some training proposals already exist as a result of research, such as the one offered by the SOS-VICS project (Del Pozo & Álvarez 2014).

The SOS-VICS training proposal includes a handbook for interpreters and a training website containing multiple terminology, documentary and bibliographic resources. The aim is to provide training in the classic public service settings and expand them with concepts and information specific to gender‑based violence. The latter can be grouped into three main categories: a) Training in feminism and gender‑based violence; b) Training to identify and handle emotional factors, and c) Training to acquire a deep and broad understanding of the multidisciplinary victim‑care settings (Toledano & Del Pozo 2015; April 2015: 86).

Therefore, interpreting in GBV contexts requires expertise in three aspects: the interpreter must master the concept of GBV in all its aspects; identify and be able to handle the psychological and emotional factors present in the communicative situations in which he/she intervenes; and adapt to the complexity of this work system, which implies addressing the challenges of all areas of PSI.

(Abril 2015: 86)

Training in feminism and gender-based violence

Training in feminism to work in GBVI is essential for a variety of reasons; it offers tools, such as the gender approach, that allow for a better identification and understanding of the users' communication needs (victims/survivors and professionals) in the different assistance and protection contexts (Norma & García Caro 2016, Reimóndez 2017).

Pérez & Casado (2015) highlight the need for training in feminism and gender‑based violence because this violence is not a spontaneous behaviour produced in marginal contexts of reality or by socially misfit individuals. Instead, this violence is comprised of different manifestations of a naturalised structural inequality. Such inequality must be known and understood as a whole without complexes or prejudices, in order to analyse and, if necessary, (de)construct our own beliefs and assumptions. Furthermore, in the case of migrant population such assumptions and prejudice often converge with other cultural, racial and/or social stereotypes (for example, Muslim women are submissive, Latin American women are unfaithful to their partners or Indian women are industrious, to cite some common simplistic stereotypes in our society) (Marey & Del Pozo 2020). This type of training is fundamental to any interpreter, as it has been shown that both prejudice and ignorance about the impact of gender‑based violence on a battered woman (impact that may alter the faculties of speech, body language or behaviour in general) can interfere with the work of the interpreter and have a very negative impact on both victims and those who assist them.

Training in emotional factors


Social worker interview

Interviews in gender‑based violence contexts have a considerable psychological and emotional burden that most often affects all parties involved in the communication process. This poses multiple challenges for interpreters in terms of comprehension, analysis and reformulation of the message; ethics and professional practice protocol; and even their personal well-being (Abril 2015: 87).

Violence causes both physical and mental deterioration that sometimes leads victims to a mental condition that prevents them from expressing with clarity. Moreover, in these contexts it is particularly important that the message is transmitted accurately and faithfully since both the message content and the way in which it is expressed can be relevant for professionals when assessing victim's actual state and determining the risk present. Interpreter should therefore not only be able to understand and convey the victim's message but must also know which strategy to use to ensure the highest degree of success.

The creation of a climate of trust and empathy during communication is fundamental, if we want the victim to speak without feeling judged by any of the parties involved. This is an added challenge for interpreters because they must keep being impartial while showing the necessary sensitiveness to make the victim feel comfortable and free to talk about the situation. Moreover, the interpreter should refrain from interfering with the initiative and control of the interview, which is the responsibility of the professional.

Lastly, narrating traumatic experiences in the first person can have an important impact on the interpreter's mental state, so he/she will have to learn self-care and stress management techniques (Aguilera 2015).

Multidisciplinary training in the victims’ assisting process


	Court interpretation

The concept of comprehensive victim assistance, which includes information, care, counselling and recovery services, requires a coordinated multidisciplinary response that, in the case of foreign women who do not speak the host country language, should also include language mediation services. Interpreters should not only be aware of the different services in which they may act but should also learn about the actual phases of the victim's assistance process, and above all, know the objective of each communicative situation since it will, to some extent, determine the way they interpret (Borja & Del Pozo 2015, 2018).

The strong emotional burden experienced by interpreters when working in contexts such as gender‑based violence is an added complexity to the various situations and contexts in which their intervention may be required. The SOS-VICS research project revealed the importance given by professionals to the interpreter knowing the particularities, protocols, specialised languages, etc. in each of the fields (legal, health, social, psychological, etc.), as well as the different expectations they have from the interpreter’s role (Del Pozo, Vaamonde, Casado et al. 2014a). In general, in the health, psychosocial, social services, NGOs, etc. contexts the interpreter is expected to have a more active role than in stricter settings such as the police or court, where total neutrality is expected (Del Pozo & Toledano 2016).

Research potential

There is an undeniable potential for research in GBVI because there are still many countries that use unprofessional interpreters in gender‑based violence contexts, either as part of public services or other services offered by NGOs or similar entities. This implies that there is an urgent need to document non-professional interpretation practices in order to, on the one hand, determine the specific needs in these areas and, on the other, to assess the extent to which needs are not being addressed due to lack of professionalisation and/or specialisation. In most cases, malpractice involves the violation of linguistic rights, which in turn compromises the users' freedom, and other fundamental rights such as the right to information, the right to privacy, the right to legal defence or, in extreme cases, the right to life.

Likewise, the sizeable migratory flow and special incidence of gender‑based violence among the migrant population —as documented in the 2015 Macro survey on Violence Against Women carried out in Spain by the Spanish Ministry of Health Social Services and Equality (2015 349-360)— results in increasingly heterogeneous violence types and communication situations in which the interpreter must intervene, due to the multiplicity of languages, cultures and types of migration that overlap in the victims.

Moreover, victims are often forced to use vehicular languages because interpreters of their mother tongue or primary language are not available. This translates into increasing linguistic and communication challenges that require further studies and follow-up to improve both training and assistance offered by interpreters. Likewise, it is also crucial to carry out research to ascertain the training needs of professionals who need to work with interpreters in these contexts (Borja & Del Pozo 2015, 2018).

The complexity of working in gender‑based violence contexts is aggravated further because many migrant women are subject to other crimes such as trafficking for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, or human smuggling, which in turn multiplies the communication needs and makes them more complex, thereby raising ethical and professional practice issues that need to be studied thoroughly.

Finally, research into GBVI from the perspective of sociology, psychology or gender studies also offers the possibility of evaluating the extent to which issues such as cultural and gender stereotypes have an impact on interpreters' work (Toledano 2019; Marey & Del Pozo 2020) and how specialised training can help to correct possible interferences, whether or not admitted by interpreters.