FUNCTIONALITY OF INTERLINGUAL MEDIATION IN INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION AND MIGRATION PROCEDURES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46763/Keywords:
interlingual mediation, international protection, migration procedures, procedural fairness, translation qualityAbstract
This study examines the functionality of interlingual mediation in
international protection and migration procedures in the Republic of
Slovenia, focusing on its implications for procedural fairness and the
effective exercise of fundamental rights. While the right to
interpretation and translation is formally guaranteed under European
and national legal frameworks, its practical implementation remains
insufficiently effective.
The empirical part of the study is based on an analysis of texts translated
from Slovene into Macedonian as a non-dominant language pair. The
findings indicate that the analysed texts achieve an average
comprehensibility level of approximately 50%, revealing significant
limitations in ensuring accurate and comprehensible communication.
Since interlingual mediation in practice includes both translation and
interpreting — often performed by the same person — these limitations
point to structural weaknesses affecting the quality and reliability of
communication in legal proceedings.
To verify whether these findings extend beyond a single language pair,
questionnaires and interviews were conducted with applicants for
international protection and decision-makers. The results confirm
similar patterns across other non-dominant languages, suggesting that
the problem is systemic rather than language-specific.
The study concludes that such limitations may undermine procedural
safeguards under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union and the Asylum Procedures Directive, particularly the right to be
heard and the right to effective participation in proceedings.
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