Deontological aspects of interpreting services in asylum seeker and refugee reception centres in Andalusia

Abstract

The rising trend in the numbers of asylum applications submitted in Spain and the organization of the existing system for receiving and integrating applicants pending rulings indicate an urgent need for interpreting services capable of attending these people efficiently and professionally. Such services should fully guarantee respect for the deontological aspects of what is a particularly sensitive procedure. To achieve this objective, we need to be familiar with the deontological situation in interpreting in general and, above all, in the fields of asylum and refugee management, and know what tools are available with which to address lack of awareness in this area when reception centres work with interpreters. After examining these issues, this article presents the results of a study carried out in reception centres in Seville, the capital of one of the regions in the EU which receives the highest number of immigrants. The results focus on the deontological considerations associated with the provision of interpreting services during the reception of asylum seekers. Reality seems to indicate a lack of awareness regarding the need to employ professionally trained interpreters familiar with international protection procedures—a situation which leads to problems of professional ethics when providing language services. The article examines how specific aspects of basic deontological principles are compromised and become ambiguous, with word-for-word excerpts from the interviews conducted during the study. It also suggests possible ways to improve the situation, while highlighting the willingness of the centres involved to collaborate and adhere to professional good practices which will result in interpreting services of higher quality when receiving asylum seekers.