UN Round table 30 April 2012 Multilingualism in International Organizations: Information and Communication in a Global World Multilingualism in the ICRC’s public communications: challenges and opportunities presented by Dorothea Krimitsas, deputy head of public relations, International Committee of the Red Cross Multilingualism is a core element of the ICRC’s strategy to gain access to people in need of assistance and also to build its reputation. More than just a tool, it can make a huge difference when it is used to help establish and develop relationships and networks with people in the field. Over the past decade, the ICRC has increasingly diversified its use of languages, in a strategic manner, successfully taking advantage of new technologies to engage with individuals or organizations worldwide and participate in the global conversation. I will focus on multilingualism applied to public communications and give an overview of the objectives the ICRC seeks to attain and of the strategies it has established for communication in different languages. I will also mention some of the best practices. A - What objectives does the ICRC seek to attain through multilingualism given its particular mandate? As a neutral, independent and impartial humanitarian organization seeking to help and to protect people affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence, the International Committee of the Red Cross needs to build up support for its operations, in particular by influencing decision makers and by bringing about changes and respect for humanitarian principles and laws.
The ICRC needs to create an environment in which it is accepted and in which its staff can work with a certain degree of security . This depends not only on communication with local groups, communities and leaders; efforts also have to be made to communicate regionally and internationally. Multilingual communication (rather than only in English) can greatly enhance acceptance and understanding of what the ICRC is all about. It can also help the ICRC to get closer to those whose suffering it seeks to alleviate and to better understand their needs, and increase its humanitarian accountability. It is also a way to feel the pulse at grassroots level and better understand the environment. Most importantly, addressing people in their own language, closer to their origins and their culture, helps create an ‘emotional connection’, something that is made possible through knowledge of the language and the culture, creating a proximity and an empathy which is essential if the organization wants to more firmly anchor its presence regionally and locally. For example in Japan, a Japanese head of office has helped create this ‘emotional connection’ with local constituencies, in a way that a non-Japanese would not have been able to achieve. This goes hand in hand with the ICRC's policy over the past decade of internationalizing its staff. B - What strategies and programmes are in place to communicate in various languages? 1 – Choice of languages depending on objective and topic The ICRC does not have any official languages as such. English and French are currently the working languages of the ICRC administration. (Both at headquarters and in the field, as more non-Swiss have been recruited since the early 1990s, the number of native French speakers on the staff has almost certainly declined and this trend is likely to continue and become further accentuated.) English is also widely used by the ICRC in its dialogue with authorities and other influential groups. The annual report and emergency appeals, the ICRC’s two main fundraising reports, are produced in English, while extracts and summaries are produced in other languages as required. English is the most widely used language for public communication (products aimed at the mainstream media, web, social media, campaigns, specialist and general publications, and audio-visual products). Besides English, French, regional languages with an
international dimension (Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese) and national languages with a regional or sub-regional dimension (Russian, Chinese) are the most widely used by the ICRC. However, the right mix of global, regional and local communication, and hence the right choice of languages, will vary depending on the ICRC’s objectives in relation to particular contexts and themes. News releases and updates for the media on priority operations and topics for the ICRC are systematically issued in all major languages (English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese). This is currently the case for news releases about Syria. Depending on the topic, the material will be translated into the relevant languages either in Geneva or in the field, in one of the ICRC's Communication Support Centres which provide support services in terms of translations, production and environment scanning. Such centres exist in Cairo, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Nairobi, Jakarta and Beijing. Translations into other national or local languages are done in the field, as needed. News releases are sent out to lists of media outlets, targeted by language and by topic, from Geneva and from the field. 2 – Adapt tools and messages to cultural background and environment The ICRC’s website www.icrc.org remains the reference tool of the organization’s corporate and public communication. It was first launched in English in 1995, followed by French in 1996, Spanish in 1998, Portuguese in 2000, Arabic in 2002, and later Russian and Chinese. In January 2012, the English site had the most visitors (55%), followed by French (18%), Spanish (11%), Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Portuguese. Many countries have developed an interest in ICRC activities outside their own context: for example, the Portuguese website is an important channel for informing Brazilians about the ICRC’s activities in other parts of the world. The ICRC’s public communication in Arabic, including its website, is key to building a reputation in the Arab world. Efforts are also being made to generate more content in Arabic, instead of translating from English. ICRC delegations are being encouraged to produce human-interest stories and other material for their audiences, in a style that matches the expectations of an Arab reader.
Increasing pressure to communicate and produce information material in other, less widely used, national or local languages that are nevertheless of special interest to the ICRC – such as Bahasa (Indonesian), Turkish, Hebrew, Farsi, Japanese, Thai, etc... – is prompting the ICRC to find appropriate solutions: micro-sites or blogs, with content produced locally or adapted from other languages. In addition, the ICRC runs blogs from Paris, Washington, Djakarta and Bangkok. The ICRC operates several Twitter accounts (in English, French, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and lately in Bahasa, Japanese and Malay) and Weibo in China, which are used to ‘push’ news releases, operational updates or crisis information, while providing an interface for interaction with our constituents and the general public. In Jakarta, the ICRC chose to open a Twitter account in Bahasa to communicate with a population of avid users of mobile phone technology who are very active on Twitter. The strategy differs from one language to another, depending on the penetration of social media in the different language groups. Generally, the ICRC has put more emphasis on web-based communications in Asia, as this region counts the biggest number of internet users worldwide. The ICRC’s Facebook page, opened in 2010, is now hosting about 40,000 users worldwide. Content is customized for specific audiences, by country or language. In China, the ICRC uses one of the equivalents of Facebook, Kaixin. 3 – Cooperation with regional and international media having global influence Examples: Al Jazeera Arabic for the Arab world, CCTV and Xinhua for China, RT in Russia, TV Globo, CNN... Concluding remarks Evolving communication technologies are significantly altering the way people and organizations communicate, which also makes it more complex to engage with them. The choice of languages, combined with the type of tool, reflects the ICRC’s priorities in terms of humanitarian challenges, reputation building, influence and outreach for dialogue and cooperation.
Among the factors that have contributed to the success of the ICRC's multilingual communications: - Adapting the tool and the language to the environment; no one-size-fits-all solution. - Building on partnerships with regional / international media having global influence, as well as with local media that can influence the situation on the ground. - Real-time communications require rapidity and flexibility. Human resources. Communications set-up: network of communicators in the field, speaking local languages, doing missions to contexts of interest (Chinese staff in Libya) and staff at HQ (a dozen people, all speaking several languages, which allows them to deal with practically any media request). This set-up has proven particularly efficient in crisis situations. - Decentralized management of communication-linked services (translation, web, production, environment scanning) in regions.
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