Servizio d’interpretariato in Italia per richiedenti asilo e rifugiati

This work’s main aim is to describe the profile of interpreters working with asylum seekers and refugees in Italy as well as the services provided during the asylum process. Over the last few years, the number of asylum seekers fleeing from wars and persecutions in their home countries has increased sharply in Italy. Asylum seekers have the right to receive proper linguistic assistance, i.e. to rely on a suitably trained interpreter in order to ensure clear and effective communication with the Italian authorities. Asylum seekers and refugees are extremely vulnerable, as they do not understand the official language, let alone the Kafkaesque Italian asylum system. This work shows that professional interpreters working in this filed in Italy still do not exist, and that ad hoc interpreters are employed to work with asylum seekers and refugees. The lack of humanitarian interpreters is detrimental to asylum seekers in that their applications may be rejected due to misunderstandings. In Italy, humanitarian interpreters would be called upon to work in various contexts, i.e. Hotspots (where migrants are gathered after being rescued and where they can lodge their first application for asylum), CARA centres (where asylum seekers are hosted while their identities are being checked), and the Progetto territoriale dello SPRAR (a centre where asylum seekers and refugees can be hosted for up to six months). Lastly, interpreters are to be found in the Questura - the Italian central police station – where asylum seekers are to submit their final applications, as well as the Commissione Territoriale, the Commission assessing asylum applications. In order to examine the role played by humanitarian interpreters in Italy, a survey was developed and submitted to thirty ‘humanitarian interpreters’. Their answers helped depict the status quo of humanitarian interpreting in Italy, and to focus on measures required to improve and update the Italian asylum system.