Greetings Colleagues

My  name  is  Sven  Borei.  I  am  a  member  and  past  chairman  of  the  Swedish  Association  for

Professional  Translators  and  have  been  a  translator  for  nearly  thirty  years.  For  the  last  two  years  I

have served FIT as chairman of the Human Rights Committee and will continue in that role during the

next period as well.

I need to take a few minutes of your time to persuade you and your organisation to become involved

in  the  work  of  the  Human  Rights  Committee.  It  was  on  that  subject  that  I  addressed  the  general

meeting  of  the  association  this  past  August  concerning  our  shared  responsibility  for  those  of  our

translator  and  interpreter  colleagues  who,  in  the  performance  of  their  professional  duties,  have  been

harassed,  imprisoned  or  even  killed  –  our  shared  responsibility  as  an  international  organisation,  as

national member organisations and as professional individuals.

I want to share with you the committee’s plans for the coming year, plans that include each national

organisation and, by extension, each individual member of these organisations.

  We have already begun creating a separate network connecting us with such organisations as

UNESCO, International PEN and Amnesty International. This we will continue working with.

  The  next  step  is  to  build  a  network  that  embraces  the  entire  globe,  a  network  comprised  of

corresponding representatives from each of FIT’s member organisations. Their goal will be to

keep us informed on problems in their countries by monitoring the human rights situation in

our profession.

  We also want to expand the Human Rights Committee by six, each new member representing

a FIT region. Europe we have, and also the Russian sphere. But we need active members from

north  and  south  America,  Africa,  the  Far  East  and  Oceania  who  can help us make decisions

regarding cases placed on our table.

________________________

FIT – La voix des associations de traducteurs, interprètes et terminologues à travers le monde

FIT – The voice of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists around the world

FIT Secretariat: Aeschenvorstadt 71, CH-4051 Basel, Suisse/Switzerland

 +(41) 61 225 42 10 |  +(41) 61 225 44 10 | Этот e-mail адрес защищен от спам-ботов, для его просмотра у Вас должен быть включен Javascript | www.fit-ift.org

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Thus  we  ask  each  of  the  FIT  organisational  members  to  appoint  corresponding  members  and

nominate  committee  members.  The  six  new  committee  members  will  serve  electronically  and

can  naturally  double  as  corresponding  members  from  their  national  organisations. The names

and communication information for the corresponding members should be sent to me

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The committee members will serve through the next mandate period to May 2015.

The overall aim is to make FIT an active partner in promoting human rights throughout the world. We

are a large organisation, not only in national members, but also in the individual members they have.

Through the efforts of the Human Rights Committee we can work together to influence questions that

relate to our profession. It is right to do so. But more, as human beings and as professional translators

and interpreters it is our responsibility to strengthen the striving for universal human rights in all our

nations and in the world. For me, doing otherwise is a professional and human impossibility.

Please act on this immediately. We want 2012 to be a full year of human rights activity.

Thank  you!

Sven Borei

Chairman, FIT Human Rights Committee