Interpreting gender-based violence against women and sex trafficking. A scoping literature review of community interpreting and transcultural mediation with survivors of violence

Community interpreters and transcultural mediators working with survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) against women and sex trafficking are called to work in contexts that require specific knowledge, a gender perspective, and specialised training to deal with complex emotions and accounts of trauma. Despite the importance of these professionals in every service that survivors encounter on their way out of violence, not many systematic studies have been dedicated to this topic, nor does a literature review of relevant research on these issues exist. With the aim of collecting existing studies and identifying research gaps, this paper proposes a scoping literature review of contributions dedicated to interpreting in GBV and sex trafficking contexts, thematically divided and analysed in four subtopics: development and characteristics of the subdiscipline and interpreters’ specific skills; interpreter’s role in relation to neutrality and impartiality vs active involvement; exposure to trauma and risk of vicarious traumatisation; training needs and available training materials for interpreters.