Interpreters and War Crimes

• Published in: International journal of research studies in language learning Vol. 1; no. 4
• Main Author: Takeda, Kayoko
• Format: eBook Book Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 2021; Taylor and Francis; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Group; Consortia Academia Publishing
• Edition: 1
• Series: Routledge Advances in Translation and Interpreting Studies
• Subjects: 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999; 3MPBL c 1940 to c 1949; 3MPBLB c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period); Accused interpreters; Ally POWs; Bin Al Shibh; British military trials; c 1500 onwards to present day; Changi Prison; Civilian Interpreters; confidentiality; Criminal liability (International law); Criminal liability (International law) > History > 20th century; Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950; Ethical issues; Genocide & War Crimes; History; History and Archaeology; illusory agency; In-court Testimonies; interpreter ethics; Interpreter Proximity; Interpreters; interpreters in conflict; Interpreting; Interpreting Studies; Interrogatory Torture; Japan > Armed forces > Official and employees > Legal status, laws, etc. > Criminal provisions > History > 20th century; Japanese Military Administration; Japanese Military Organisations; Japanese war crimes; Joint Criminal Enterprise; joint responsibility; Language and Linguistics; Language Arts & Disciplines; Linguistics; Military; Military courts; Military courts > Great Britain > History > 20th century; Military history; Modern warfare; NHWR7 Second World War; Other warfare and defence issues; Political Science; Second World War; Society and Social Sciences; Specific wars and campaigns; Superior Orders Defence; Taiwanese Interpreters; Time period qualifiers; Translating & Interpreting; Translation and interpretation; Translators; Translators > Legal status, laws, etc. > Criminal provisions > History > 20th century; Violent hostilities; visibility; War crimes; War crimes trials; War crimes trials > Pacific Area > History > 20th century; War crimes trials-History-Pacific Area-20th century; Warfare and defence; World War II; World War, 1939-1945; World War, 1939-1945 > Atrocities > Pacific Area; Young Man; Superior Orders Defence; Young Man; confidentiality; Joint Criminal Enterprise; Allied Trials; UK Operation; Violent hostilities; ICC Rome Statute; Prosecution Witnesses; British military trials; interpreters in conflict; Interpreter Proximity; Japanese war crimes; Japanese Military; illusory agency; Ally POWs; Accused interpreters; Temporary Interpreter; visibility; Changi Prison; Taiwanese Interpreters; Superior Orders; Dependent Adult Abuse; interpreter ethics; Ethical issues; Japanese Military Administration; Civilian Interpreters; Asia Pacific War; Japanese Military Organisations; joint responsibility; Interrogatory Torture; War Crimes Investigations; In-court Testimonies; war crimes trials; Bin Al Shibh
• ISBN: 0367557509; 9780367557492; 9780367557508; 0367557495; 1000365220; 9781000365221; 9781003094982; 1000365190; 9781000365191; 1003094988
• ISSN: 2243-7754; 2243-7754
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003094982

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book raises new questions and provides different perspectives on the roles, responsibilities, ethics and protection of interpreters in war while investigating the substance and agents of Japanese war crimes and legal aspects of interpreters taking part in war crimes. Informed by studies on interpreter ethics in conflict, historical studies of Japanese war crimes and legal discussion on individual liability in war crimes, Takeda provides a detailed description and analysis of the 39 interpreter defendants and interpreters as witnesses of war crimes at British military trials against the Japanese in the aftermath of the Pacific War, and tackles ethical and legal issues of various risks faced by interpreters in violent conflict. The book first discusses the backgrounds, recruitment and wartime activities of the accused interpreters at British military trials in addition to the charges they faced, the defence arguments and the verdicts they received at the trials, with attention to why so many of the accused were Taiwanese and foreign-born Japanese. Takeda provides a contextualised discussion, focusing on the Japanese military's specific linguistic needs in its occupied areas in Southeast Asia and the attributes of interpreters who could meet such needs. In the theoretical examination of the issues that emerge, the focus is placed on interpreters' proximity to danger, visibility and perceived authorship of speech, legal responsibility in war crimes and ethical issues in testifying as eyewitnesses of criminal acts in violent hostilities. Takeda critically examines prior literature on the roles of interpreters in conflict and ethical concerns such as interpreter neutrality and confidentiality, drawing on legal discussion of the ineffectiveness of the superior orders defence and modes of individual liability in war crimes. The book seeks to promote intersectoral discussion on how interpreters can be protected from exposure to manifestly unlawful acts such as torture.