(thanks to my friend and colleague Ruth Morris for alerting me to this paper.)
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2208749 
University of San Francisco - School of Law
April 29, 2013
Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper No. 2013-11
Abstract:
Sixteen-year old Uzbek, Sunnat (not his real name), was seized in Afghanistan following the attacks on September 11, 2001. He was transported to the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002. Despite being cleared for release, Sunnat waited eight years to find a country that would take him.
Sunnat was placed in a cell among other detainees in the general prison population. He spoke neither Arabic nor English, the lingua francas of the prison and the only languages spoken by the detainees in neighboring cells. Consequently, for much of his time in Guantanamo he talked to no one. He awoke each morning and cried. Sunnat could, of course, reach out and communicate through eye contact, hand signs and facial expressions. However, Sunnat never meaningfully communicated with his neighbors. Absence of meaningful human contact is a characteristic of isolation and a source of suffering caused by isolation. Sunnat suffered a new and unique form of isolation, known as "Isolation by language barriers."
In this article, I use Sunnat's story as a lens through which to see how isolation by language barriers is a form of isolation that warrants special attention in the detention context. Similar to other forms of isolation, isolation by language barriers may rise to the level of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or CID. Academic literature on isolation, including literature in the social sciences and international fields, has only cursorily acknowledged the experience of being isolated by language in detention, and has not identified the experience as a distinct type of isolation. Consequently, this essay is original work.
In comparing isolation by language barriers to other forms of isolation, this article will also create a framework where isolation by language barriers is recognized as a distinct form of isolation similar to solitary confinement, incommunicado detention and administrative segregation. In addition, the article will identify circumstances outside Guantanamo where isolation by language barriers also exists, such as in immigration and asylum detention centers. The article concludes with suggestions for remedying situations of isolation by language barriers.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2208749 
Alone in a Sea of Voices: Recognizing a New Form of Isolation By Language Barriers, or Linguistic Isolation
Peter Jan Honigsberg
University of San Francisco - School of Law
April 29, 2013
Univ. of San Francisco Law Research Paper No. 2013-11
Abstract:
Sixteen-year old Uzbek, Sunnat (not his real name), was seized in Afghanistan following the attacks on September 11, 2001. He was transported to the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002. Despite being cleared for release, Sunnat waited eight years to find a country that would take him.
Sunnat was placed in a cell among other detainees in the general prison population. He spoke neither Arabic nor English, the lingua francas of the prison and the only languages spoken by the detainees in neighboring cells. Consequently, for much of his time in Guantanamo he talked to no one. He awoke each morning and cried. Sunnat could, of course, reach out and communicate through eye contact, hand signs and facial expressions. However, Sunnat never meaningfully communicated with his neighbors. Absence of meaningful human contact is a characteristic of isolation and a source of suffering caused by isolation. Sunnat suffered a new and unique form of isolation, known as "Isolation by language barriers."
In this article, I use Sunnat's story as a lens through which to see how isolation by language barriers is a form of isolation that warrants special attention in the detention context. Similar to other forms of isolation, isolation by language barriers may rise to the level of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or CID. Academic literature on isolation, including literature in the social sciences and international fields, has only cursorily acknowledged the experience of being isolated by language in detention, and has not identified the experience as a distinct type of isolation. Consequently, this essay is original work.
In comparing isolation by language barriers to other forms of isolation, this article will also create a framework where isolation by language barriers is recognized as a distinct form of isolation similar to solitary confinement, incommunicado detention and administrative segregation. In addition, the article will identify circumstances outside Guantanamo where isolation by language barriers also exists, such as in immigration and asylum detention centers. The article concludes with suggestions for remedying situations of isolation by language barriers.
No comments:
Post a Comment