The issue of aid requested by some 20,000 Iraqis, who saw their lives endangered in their own country following their assistance to British troops, just took a step closer towards resolution. The UK government is offering the translators and interpreters who worked for its troops a chance to settle in the UK with their families for an indefinite period, or one-off financial aid, destined to help them resettle in countries neighbouring Iraq.
This £25m government programme is meant to ensure the safety of the translators and interpreters who assisted the UK forces in Iraq. There are, however, conditions for aid eligibility: the applicant must provide records of working with the British troops last August and for an entire year previous to this date. This means that while some 2,000 Iraqi translators and interpreters are probably eligible for this aid programme, others will be denied British assistance. This is the case, for instance, for translators and interpreters who fled Iraq some time ago and who are now leading often very insecure lives in neighbouring countries.
The first Iraqi refugees will fly to the UK in April and will be provided with indefinite stay permits and temporary housing, as well as assistance from Migrant Helpline, a charity that helps immigrants settle in the UK. Other translators and interpreters have chosen the one-off payment offered by the UK government, and will get on with their lives in various Middle East countries.
Lingo24 has already expressed its support for the translators and interpreters working in Iraq and circulated a petition intended to increase awareness for their cause, so we are delighted to see progress made in this matter. We do, however, feel that fairness should also be demonstrated towards those translators and interpreters who are not eligible for UK aid under the current regulations.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
