ICC in search of Tagalog, Cebuano translators for Duterte trial

MANILA, Philippines – The International Criminal Court (ICC) is looking for a paraprofessional interpreter and associate court interpreter to work on witness testimonies and other court-related matters in preparation for the trial of former president Rodrigo Duterte in November.

In a posting on its website, the ICC opened a job posting each for the two fixed-term vacancies with a contract until Dec. 31 this year.

The posting will close on July 4.

The paraprofessional interpreter post will receive a minimum net annual salary of 55,665 euros (about P4 million), while the associate court interpreter will get 71,173 euros (P5.1 million).

Both will be based in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Among the responsibilities are interpreting the testimonies of witnesses and other subjects, including “legal/forensic discourse; studying their statements, preparing for interpretation assignments and compiling vocabulary lists. 

They should possess “mother tongue proficiency” in Filipino and/or Cebuano and a “high level proficiency” in English to be able to provide “retour interpretation” of the languages.

The interpreters will have to undergo intensive training and will be constantly assessed by the trainers of the Language Services Section, which is under the Registry, the ICC’s administrative arm.

They will also be reporting directly to the head of the Situation Languages Unit. 

The need for translation services was discussed during the first status conference last month for the trial of Duterte.

The former president is facing three counts of murder as a crime against humanity for the drug war killings under his administration.

During the status conference, Presiding Judge Joanna Korner of the Trial Chamber III, which will try Duterte, asked the Registry to arrange the interpretation services so that the audience from the Philippines would be able to understand the statements on the opening day of the trial.

The legal representatives of victims in the ICC earlier said they preferred a real-time translation of both Filipino and Cebuano during the trial, but would still welcome a translation for only one local language. 

The ICC also looked for Filipino and Cebuano translators in 2024, when Duterte was not yet charged and was just under investigation, as well as transcribers of the same languages in 2025, when the ex-President was already arrested and turned over to the ICC.  /gsg