Findings and Achievements

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THE CONVERSION OF ASYLUM APPLICANTS’ NARRATIVES INTO LEGAL DISCOURSES IN THE UK AND FRANCE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL TRANSLATION
Professor Anthony Good
Co-Investigator: Dr Robert Gibb

FINDINGS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

  • The processing of asylum claims is a major administrative and legal undertaking in France and the UK, but many asylum applicants face problems in securing qualified legal representation. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a vital role in both countries by providing asylum applicants with free legal advice. Although surveys of legal provision in EU countries have recently been carried out by legal and human rights organisations, these focused only on formal organisational structures and their legal and administrative frameworks, without comparing in detail the practicalities of providing legal advice in different European countries.  The project therefore studied the processes - and problems - of cultural translation involved in the conversion of asylum applicants' accounts of persecution into legal language by lawyers (usually aided by interpreters). Its two principal objectives were: (1) to document, assess and compare the practical activities of NGOs in each country, focusing on their roles in preparing statements and presenting cases on behalf of their clients; and (2) to analyse the wider structural contexts in both countries, through examining: the impact of recent legislation; the relationship between NGOs and the state; and inter-NGO cooperation in lobbying, information-sharing, and efforts to develop common policy objectives
  • The project has been innovative in using ethnographic methods (participant observation and semi-structured interviews, combined with archival research) to investigate processes - and problems - of cultural translation in the legal recording and representation of asylum claims; on the other, as well as extending the US-derived 'new legal pluralism' perspective to the study of European immigration and asylum systems. The project will be of value to research communities in the above areas, secondly, because it is the first empirically-based comparative research on the practicalities (as opposed to the formal organisational structures or legal frameworks) of providing legal advice to asylum applicants in the UK and France
  • The research conducted will further the analysis of issues of linguistic and cultural translation arising in contexts of migration and asylum; throw new light on problems of representation and discourse in relation to asylum applicants and refugees; and contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between legal and ordinary language conventions, and of processes of legal change more generally. It has been recognised as having the potential to open up a new field of study within legal anthropology
  • The core of the research was a participant-observation study of the activities of selected NGOs in each country, through working as an intern and/or shadowing key staff members.  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key staff in selected NGOs, and with other key actors in the asylum process, such as solicitors, barristers, interpreters, Immigration Judges in the UK and their French equivalents. Further information was obtained through analysis of documentary data held in legal archives in both countries. Key stakeholders from both countries were brought together at a workshop where they shared information and experiences
  • The research will contribute to fairer decision-making on asylum claims in France and the UK; assist the two national NGO communities in developing best practice; inform continuing UK and French debates on the effects of recent and pending asylum legislation and legal aid provision. It will also further the analysis of issues of linguistic and cultural translation arising in contexts of migration and asylum; throw new light on problems of representation and discourse relating to asylum applicants and refugees; and contribute to better understanding of the relationship between legal and ordinary language conventions, and processes of legal change more generally
  • The primary achievement of the research was to compare the processes of cultural translation and interpretation involved in the recording and re-presentation of asylum applicants' narratives of persecution by a range of key actors in the UK and France.  The research focused on how asylum applicants' narratives of persecution are structured into legally-acceptable forms of discourse by solicitors, barristers and other legal representatives (such as NGO staff), and the ways in which case officers elicit and record claims during official asylum interviews and examine statements submitted at the appeals stage have also been studied and compared. In addition, the research has explored the important role interpreters can play as 'cultural' (and not simply linguistic) interpreters in official asylum interviews, in interviews between legal representatives and their clients, and at appeals court hearings. The quality and the quantity of relevant empirical material collected has enabled the researchers to undertake a detailed and systematic comparison of the conversion of asylum applicants' narratives into legal discourses by different actors within each country and between the UK and France more generally
  • The research has highlighted the range of contexts in which asylum applicants' narratives of persecution are elicited (orally or in writing) and recorded : screening interviews with case officers; written applications for asylum; substantive asylum interviews with case officers; medico-legal examinations; cross-examinations in asylum appeals hearings. The research has compared how case officers and legal representatives in the two countries record and analyse them
  • A secondary set of achievements, grounded in more general observation of the work of legal and paralegal staff, as well as interviews and archival research, has been the documentation, assessement and comparison of the practical activities of the selected NGOs in the two countries. The research has highlighted, among other points, important differences between the NGOs concerned in their composition and organisation and in their relationship to the state, as well as the differential impact of recent legislative changes on their activities and modes of operation
  • An important additional achievement has been to contribute, through the organisation of a workshop and by other formal and informal exchanges over the course of the research (and which are ongoing), to the process of ensuring fair and consistent decision-making on asylum claims in France and the UK by facilitating contact between key practitioners from both countries, thereby encouraging the sharing of issues and the development of best practice
  • The project’s specific focus on asylum applicants' narratives of persecution, and how these are translated into legal discourses informed by particular values and orientations, has already resulted in the project attracting considerable interest on the part of other researchers working in the above areas not only in the UK and France but also in other European countries, and this is likely to increase with the further dissemination and publication of its results. The project will make an important contribution to advancing creativity, knowledge and understanding in the area of asylum law in Europe by virtue of its scope, and the quality and quantity of empirical data collected. The project has compared the ways in which asylum applicants' narratives of persecution are translated, represented and examined by a range of different institutional and non-institutional actors in the UK and France. This has made possible a more holistic perspective and a 'studying through' of policy processes from their origins to their effects on different actors, characteristics which further increase the potential importance of the project
  • A generic expert report has been prepared by Anthony Good on asylum issues concerning Sri Lanka, to help redress a perceived dearth of accurate information available in France. This report is now in wide circulation among French lawyers. He has also prepared a report on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, as part of a submission to the EU.  He has been invited to join the Project Advisory Board for two asylum-related research projects
  • The ‘stake-holder’ workshop (‘France/UK Workshop on Asylum Procedures’, 30-31 March 2009) organised at the end of the funding period provided a further opportunity for French and UK practitioners to exchange information and reflect critically (and comparatively) on their own professional activities with a view to the development of 'best practice'. The workshop also led to the establishment of new contacts and networks between French and UK practitioners, an outcome that was regarded as particularly significant by those present

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