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VICTIM-TRANSLATION-ASSITANCE

A Handbook for Law Enforcement Officers and Victim Service Providers

2010

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The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Countries and areas are referred to by the names that were in official use at the time the relevant data were collected. © UNODC 2010

This publication has not been formally edited.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The VITA tool has been elaborated by UN.GIFT/UNODC and would not have been possible without the valuable contribution from several experts working in the fight against human trafficking. The development of the tool was led by Ms. Doris Buddenberg (UN.GIFT/UNODC) and Ms. Livia Wagner (UN.GIFT) and it would not have been possible without the contribution of the following experts: Ms. Silke Albert (UNODC), Ms. Sheila Coutts (UN.GIFT), Mr. Shadrach Haruna (UNODC), Ms. Andrea Koller (UNODC), Ms. Sandra Kozeschnik (UN.GIFT), Ms. Julie Kvammen (UNODC), Ms. Marika McAdam (UNODC), Ms. Riikka Puttonen (UNODC), Ms. Narue Shiki (UN.GIFT), Ms. Alexia Taveau (UNODC), Mr. Troels Vester (UN.GIFT/UNODC). Special appreciation is extended to Mr. Martin Fowke (UNODC) for his invaluable insight and contribution. The tool also benefitted from the dedication of the following interns: Ms. Mithra Ansari, Ms. Valerie Baldinger, Ms. Katrin Best, Ms. Adina Cirstea, Mr. James Delancey, Ms. Surabhi Goswami, Mr. Martin Henien, Mr. Edward James, Mr. Roberto Marchegiani, Ms. Anna Paluch, Ms. Mandy Roenicke and Ms. Dunja Todic. Special recognition is extended to following experts for their invaluable contribution: Mr. Christiaan Martens (Belgian Police), Ms. Eva Plan-Sandhofer (Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service), Mr. Alois Zörweg (Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service), Mr. Gerhard Joszt (Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service), Mr. Knut Brattvik (INTERPOL), Ms. Evelyn Probst (LEFÖ-IBF), Mr. Norbert Ceipek (Drehscheibe Augarten), Ms. Klara Skrivankova (Anti-Slavery International) and Mr. Glynn Rankin (UK Human Trafficking Centre) The elaboration of this tool would not have been possible without the commitment of the following volunteers who have contributed with their personal expertise to this tool: Ms. Ogunfojuri Idowu Abimbola, Ms. Binta Ahmed, Ms. Nagham Al-Taie, Ms. Jyoti Arora, Ms. Emebet Assefa Bizuneh, Ms. Wafa Ayoub, Mr. Daniel Ban, Ms. Maria Theresa Brittinger, Ms. Petya Dimitrova, Ms. Ajuma Echikwu, Ms. Tally Einav, Ms. Sherril France, Ms. Parichart Gazzola, Ms. Maria Gajewska, Mr. Ongyal Gurung, Ms. Caecilia Handayani-Hassmann, Mr. Mozes Heinschink, Mr. M Hofman, Mr. Samir K.C., Ms. Zarema Khamuradova, Ms. Rebecca Namugosa Kiza, Ms. Sima Kouhi, Mr. Thomas Lammel, Mr. Dan Lazar, Mr. Gábor Molnár, Mr. Arjon Mulgeci, Ms. Anastassija Omskaya, Ms. Akriva Panagopoulou, Ms. Raminta Uoga Petruseviciene, Ms. Laura Reynaldo, Mr. Matteo Rolando, Mr. Pankaj Singh, Ms. Sandra Smairte, Ms. Dolgor Solongo, Ms. Grace Sseruwagi, Mr. Ali Tashan, Mr. Adefris Tegene, Ms. Diana Teplyj, Ms. Mylva Maria Varda, Mr. C. Vasa, Ms. Agnese Vilde, Mr. Harrison Wandera, Ms. Inga Weiss, Mr. Ashenafi Wondyrad Gebreegziabher, Ms. Lerzan Yazici, Mr. Wei-Lin Hong and Ms. Shaoning Zhang, This tool would not have been possible without the financial contribution from the United Arab Emirates and the Austrian Criminal Intelligence.

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Introduction Trafficking in persons is a human rights violation that constitutes a crime against the individual and the State. The crime of trafficking in persons has three elements: 1. An act (what is done): recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons; 2. The means (how it is done): threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; and 3. An exploitative purpose (why it is done): this includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Human trafficking is a process, with people being abducted or recruited in a place of origin, transferred through transit points and then exploited in a destination point. In the case of internal trafficking, all three stages occur within the borders of a single country – otherwise, the trafficking process, in any one instance, can involve numerous countries and cross multiple regions. Coercive or deceptive recruitment methods vary, as do transport modes. Human trafficking is a global issue and therefore every country in the world is affected by it. Trafficking in persons is driven by lack of gender equality and lack of opportunities, stark intra and interstate economic inequality, corruption, and vulnerability due to failing judicial and law enforcement systems, civil instability, and failure of States to protect and provide for their citizens. Demand for commercial sex, cheap construction, manufacturing, industrial, and domestic labour likewise contribute to the trafficking infrastructure. Many victims of trafficking are never identified as such, and are prevented from receiving protection and support as their fundamental right. As human trafficking is not only a national but also a transnational phenomenon, law enforcement officials and victim service providers often come into contact with potential victims of human trafficking who do not speak the language of the country or region they are in. In order to identify the language of the person in need and to provide them with some initial information and assistance before an interpreter arrives, basic messages and questions have been prepared and included here so that they can be played to the victim(s) to assist him or her. Following development of a working prototype by UNODC in 2008, in 2009, UN.GIFT/UNODC and its two project partners the Austrian Criminal Intelligence Service (Division of Organized Crime) and the Austrian NGO Lefoe-IBF started their cooperation by further elaborating key encounter messages and a dissemination strategy. The project’s innovation is that former victims of human trafficking have been consulted to ensure that a victim’s perspective is incorporated in the encounter messages. The tool has undergone a testing phase and we thank all testing partners for their inputs. INTERPOL supports this initiative as it relates to their work with member countries on victim care in the initial stages of an investigation. The VITA (Victim Translation Assistance) tool is not meant to substitute a formal investigation or a proper translation/interpretation. The electronic VITA tool can be played from any personal computer with or without the audio messages. In case a personal computer is not available, this handbook serves the same means by providing the translation of the key messages in all 40 languages.

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User Guide for the VITA Tool Step 1: The user (e.g. police officer, victim service provider) selects his or her language. The VITA tool will be displayed throughout the whole session in the selected language by the user. The user then identifies and selects the language of the potential victim (or “respondent”). This program allows you, as a user, to cross-reference between 40 languages. You can follow the program in your own language and at the same time display several written messages and questions in 39 other languages. Additionally, all messages and questions to the respondent can be played with loudspeakers.

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Step 2: The user selects the region in which the victim’s language is spoken. It is important to remember that it is not the victim’s nationality that is sought, but the victim’s native language.

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Step 3: The user chooses the sex of the potential victim. In some languages, the messages will be different when addressing a woman or a man. For the purposes of the questions in this tool, the gender of the user is irrelevant.

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Step 4: The user selects the requested language of the chosen region. The flags symbolize the specific languages; when the loudspeaker symbol is clicked, the name of the language can be heard in the native language.

By clicking on one flag, the language of the victim is set. The program will then play in the requested language of the user and simultaneously all the questions are displayed in writing in the selected language of the respondent or potential victim.

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The introduction explains the response-system: the potential victim has to be given a white item (e.g. white sheet of paper) and a black item (e.g. a black pen). The white item will be used to answer “YES” to the questions and the black item to answer “NO” to the questions. After having listened to the three (3) introductory sections (providing information to the potential victim), three question-categories appear. The user can choose primary questions (general questions), secondary questions (assiastance needs) and questions for children. These categories do not relate to their importance.

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Step 5: The user can choose specific questions from the different categories in any order. When a question is selected, it is displayed in writing simultaneously in both the potential victim’s language and the user’s language. It is always possible to go back and choose a different gender and /or language and to replay messages and questions.

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Step 6: Every selected question shows the gender and the chosen language of the potential victim.

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Step 7: The user can print a protocol of the selcted questions being answered with Yes and No. Each question has a button to be clicked on with a symbol √ for YES and a symbol ⅹfor NO.

By clicking on the PRINT button on the top right a protocol of all selected questions and the given answers is being printed.

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For more information about this program please contact: UN.GIFT/UNODC P.O. Box 500 1400 Vienna Austria Tel. (+43-1) 26060-4822 or 26060-5193 Fax. (+43-1) 26060-74822 E-mail: UN.GIFT@unvienna.org or ahtmsu@unodc.org For further information, tools and training modules concerning trafficking in persons, please go to: www.ungift.org and www.unodc.org