Workshop on Linguistic Analyses for Asylum Cases

[Harold Schiffman]

Workshop on Linguistic Analyses for Asylum Cases

Date: 23-Jul-2008 - 24-Jul-2008
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Contact Person: Simonette Favaro-Buschor
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/en/home/themen/laenderinformation/sprachanalysen.html



Call Deadline: 16-May-2008

Meeting Description:

LINGUA, the scientific unit for linguistic analyses within the Swiss
Federal office for Migration, organizes a Workshop on 'Linguistic
analyses within the asylum procedure' in Lausanne/Switzerland in July
2008.


The academic world has, for a couple of years now, taken interest into
the linguistic analyses carried out and used by different asylum
authorities. In 2004, a group of linguists edited a set of Guidelines
designed for all practitioners in this field. Its concern is to ensure
and guarantee a sufficient quality level. Its focus lies particularly
on the profile required by people who carry out such analyses.

The different units across Europe who carry out linguistic analyses
within the asylum procedure have all different methods and requisites.
Discussions among them and with the scientific world are therefore
necessary in order to 1) explain the different procedures and
frameworks that determine the units' working methods and 2) establish
the criteria necessary from a scientific point of view to define the
possibilities and the limits of such analyses since they can have
important consequences on people's lives.

During the Workshop - which will take place on 23rd-24th July,
immediately following the International Association for Forensic
Phonetics and Acoustics (IAFPA) conference - different European units
carrying out linguistic analyses for the asylum authorities will be
presenting themselves. Also, LINGUA would like to invite different
external presentations by people who are, in some way or other,
involved with this kind of forensic analysis. For this, a call for
papers is being opened.

Call for Papers

Abstracts on different topics related to linguistic analyses for the
determination of origin (LADO) within the asylum procedure are
welcome. Topics related to LADO are listed below and, for each topic,
a series of exemplary questions is given:

- interviews done for LADO
How should interviews be carried out in order to ensure sufficient
data basis for a scientific report? What interview technique should be
applied? Which interlocutors should be involved? What topics should be
discussed? What influence does the presence of an interpreter have on
the interview?

- forensic sciences
What kind of research has been done since the editing of the
Guidelines? What is currently being done on LADO? What developments
are possible in this field? What other aspects of forensic linguistics
could/should LADO bring into its daily work in order to increase its
quality?

- editing of scientific reports How should a LADO report look like?
What kind of answers can a LADO report furnish? What information is
needed by the case officers/lawyers/courts in order to be able to
reach a sound decision on an asylum case (e.g. minimal criteria,
domains, linguistics analysis, country knowledge, result categories)?

- profile of the experts carrying out LADO
Who has to carry out LADO? What competences are necessary to lead an
interview/to write a report/to make a linguistic analysis/to evaluate
the country knowledge/etc.? To what extent does an analyst need/want
assistance? To what extent does the staff of the linguistic analyses
units have to be involved?

- involvement of native speakers in the process
What role can/should native speakers (not) play in LADO? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of being a native speaker vs. a linguist
or of being a member of the community under analysis vs. an outsider.

- technical aspects
How to ensure the best possible quality of recordings? What technical
possibilities are at hand to ensure the analysts anonymity? How to
transfer recordings to analysts all over the world? How to ensure
protection of sensitive personal data on the recordings and the
reports we deal with?

- setting
LADO is carried out within a very specific setting, namely that of the
asylum procedure. What role does this setting play on the whole LADO
procedure? How much do the analysts need to know about the setting in
order to do a thorough job? Should legal aspects be considered when
writing a LADO report?

Presentation slots will be 20 minutes long + 10 minutes for questions.
Longer slots for discussion will be planned during the workshop.
Abstracts should have a maximal length of 250-300 words and should be
submitted by email as an attachment (using Microsoft Word or,
preferably, pdf) to Simonette Favaro at the following address:
Simonette Favaro-Buschorbfm.admin.ch

Abstracts should contain:

Title of the presentation
Name(s) of the author(s)
Affiliation of the author(s)
Both e-mail and postal addresses
Any special audio-visual/IT requirements (OHPs, PowerPoint, video, DVD etc.)
Deadline for the submission of abstracts: May 16th, 2008
Notification of acceptance: end of May 2008

The workshop is free of charges, except for a small fee covering lunches.

forwarded from Linguist-List
-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************