The Justisigns Conference – “Access to Justice for Deaf People”

april 27, 2016

Evropski parlament

On 27th of April 2016, the final conference of the „Justisigns“ project aiming at improving the access to justice for deaf people in the EU took place at the European Parliament, hosted by Helga Stevens, Member of the European Parliament.

Deaf persons face numerous barriers when they attempt to access legal settings in their country. These barriers are due to the lack of formally trained and qualified sign language interpreters, a lack of knowledge among legal professionals about deaf culture, sign languages and sign language interpreting as well as as a lack of knowledge in the deaf community and among sign language interpreters about legal procedures.

The Justisigs project goal was to identify competencies for sign language interpreting in legal settings and to provide training for both qualified and qualifying sign language interpreters, legal professionals, focussing on police forces, and deaf persons.

In the framework of this conference, the project members presented its outcomes, such as the done research identifying problems deaf persons are facing in accessing legal settings, developed educational and training materials as well as organised awareness-raising events for the three target groups.

More information about this project can be found here: http://www.justisigns.com/