Väteraufbruch für Kinder e.V.
- Bundesvorstand -

 
 
 
 

Herrn
Prof. Dr. Konrad Macht
Katholische Erziehergemeinschaft
 
 

Nürtingen 06/10/1999
Public Letter

A GUIDE FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
 
 

Dear Prof. Dr. Macht Esq.

Many thanks for your recent letter dated 03/16/1999. I published it on the Internet under the address www.vaeter-aktuell.de as requested. . [Seite1]. [Seite2]. [Seite3]

First of all I want to explain, how the German translation of the guide was prepared.

On February 2, 1999 I received a copy of the brochure A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations. I asked for a German translation. NGO/CRC Liaison Officer Shireen Said told me, that actually only an Italian translation would exist. She pleased me to prepare a German translation and to disclose it to the NGO/CRC UN group.

To fulfill this task I ordered a German translation with an English teacher. I requested to translate close to the English original to conserve the international character of the guide. We tried to find out in which direction the UN is going and how the UN is qualifying the progress made by specific countries (States).

In light of this approach we evaded the use of legal terms used in the German jurisdiction. This may look unusual when you read it. But the basic idee was to translate without confusing legal terms, which sometimes do not fit.

The completed translation was disclosed to the NGO/CRC UN group and published on the Internet.

A couple of days after that I was informed by a friend, that a German NC, mastered by Sven Borsche already prepared a separate translation, produced its own brochure and furnished interested professionals with its content. (The sender asked for the English original.)

The NGO "Väteraufbruch" - which is excluded from that specific German NC dominated by Sven Borsche - did not know that a translation already exists.

To compare the two translations, we prepared a Guide_GB_DE_DE, which shows in three columns row by row the original and the two translations. That file was discussed for a period of time. In your recent letter you referred to a very early version of this file which has been changed. Subsequently we enclose the latest version of that file as Guide_GB_DE_DE_kurz.doc.

There are differences between the two translations. Most of them are minor, but some causes substantial changes in the content expressed by the original.

In particular:

16 NGO reports prepared by coalitions
does not refer to "NGO Berichte, die von einem Zusammenschluß (National Coalition = NC) erstellt werden". Plural and singular are mismatched.  In the understanding of the translator there is only one NC. It seems to be that as a contradiction this group is supported by the Government itself and will establish a monopoly on the official German NC opinion where no room is left for the very sensitive theme of parenthood after separation and divorce.

17 widely available to the public
means what it says.

On the meeting of the German NC on March 24/25, 1999 in Leipzig, only the board of Directors KOG (Koordinierungs-Gruppe) was aware that the 2. Report of the Bundesregierung to the adoption of the Convention on the rights of the child was announced for April 1999. Near all delegates of the NGO's felt that the 2. Report was very important but nobody was informed that the 2. Report was due into 14 days. The due date of that Report was kept as a secret by the  NC's KOG.

Imprint
- The imprint of the original brochure mentioned the NGO Group of the Convention on the rights of the child with street address and phone number.
- The imprint of the NC mentioned the NC itself with street address and its phone number.

I feel this is not correct. In our translation we did not mention "Väteraufbruch".
 

I believe it is necessary to set standards for the translation of UN documents and how to make international documents on human rights widely available to the public. There is some action required.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Sochart
Väteraufbruch für Kinder e.V.
- Bundessprecher Kinder- und Jugendpolitik -



Annotations

A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations
Guide_GB_DE_DE
Guide_GB_DE_DE_kurz

Väteraufbruch für Kinder e.V.
National Coalition
Katholische Erziehergemeinschaft


International Page
UN-Kinderrechtekonvention
www.vaeter-aktuell.de/international-page/KEG02_GB.htm