VOA常速英语2007-Winner of UN Refugee Service Award Calls for Imp

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
01 October 2007

This year's winner of the Nansen Refugee Award is appealing to governments to treat asylum¹ seekers and refugees with compassion² and to seek humane³ alternatives to detention⁴. The U.N. High Commissioner⁵ for Refugees  bestowed⁶ the honor, which is its highest award for outstanding service to the cause of refugees, to a 37-year-old lawyer with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Malta for her work in helping⁷ hundreds of asylum seekers locked up in administrative⁸ detention. In an interview with VOA, Katrine Camilleri describes the difficulties faced by people fleeing from persecution⁹ and deprivation¹⁰. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

Nansen winner, Katrin Camilleri calls the award a great and unexpected honor. She tells VOA the award is important because it highlights work that is often misunderstood and unpopular.

"And highlights more than work, highlights situations and suffering which is often far away from the media spotlight¹¹, out of the public eye," she said. "It is like it is not happening."

Malta is a transit¹² country for many migrants trying to reach the European mainland. The majority are asylum seekers from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Camilleri says these people arrive in Malta after a very long, difficult and dangerous journey. She says many have crossed the Sahara desert. They've lived in foreign countries under brutal¹³, often threatening conditions before arriving on the island.

"And they cross the Mediterranean¹⁴ and they end up in Malta where they are locked up in a detention center for many, many months even if they apply for asylum…Asylum seekers can remain in detention for up to 12 months," she said. "They have to stay in detention until their asylum claim is processed…Last year, because of bureaucratic¹⁵ reasons, applications took even longer to process. So, we have a large number of asylum seekers who are being released without having been interviewed."

Camilleri has been providing legal advice to detained asylum seekers since 1997. She focuses mainly on the most vulnerable. They include victims of trauma¹⁶ or torture and survivors¹⁷ of sexual and gender-based violence.

Last year, about 1,800 migrants arrived in Malta. She says most of the arrivals are men. But, there also are a significant number of women and children. And, their situation of confinement¹⁸, she says is even more deplorable than that of the men.

"Unfortunately, women are detained in the same detention center as men," she said. "Not only in the same center, but actually in the same compound. In one section of the center you would have single women, couples, men and women, and even at times single men. So, there is a big risk we feel of abuse within the centers."

Camilleri says detention centers are terrible places and they should be avoided as much as possible. She says services in the public centers where the migrants stay after they are released are inadequate¹⁹ and must be improved. She says children and other extremely vulnerable groups should never be detained.

As a Nansen Award winner, Camilleri receives a commemorative medal and $100,000. The Maltese lawyer tells VOA she will use the prize money to pay for projects aimed at improving the lives and future prospects²⁰ of vulnerable migrants who have limited options.

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

3 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

6 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

9 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

10 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

11 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

12 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

13 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

14 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

15 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

16 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

17 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

18 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

19 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

20 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。