Tribunal for the displaced

Year: 2012

Status: Paper Project, exhibitied in Venice, Italy

Photo Credit: manthey kula

The tribunal gives architectural substance to questions concerning the individual and the collective, freedom and totalitarianism, silence and speech.

The project examines the possibility for a new social and architectural program based on interpretation of a contemporary global situation. It suggests a shift of questions concerning residency for migrants away from the national economic realm to the common ground of humanity. The tribunal is an institution based on the constant laws of compassion rather than on the ever-changing political agendas and bureaucracies. It is one of several courts that are established in regions of migration. An international body of justice administers these courts.

The displaced is whoever seeks legal residence, be it a refugee or a paperless immigrant. The objective of the tribunal is to decide whether the permit should be granted. The displaced testifies to a jury of six laymen, one from each continent appointed for a month-long service by the international administrative body. The assessment of each testimony is based solely on the jury’s opinion of the story of the displaced. If the permit is granted it is immediately produced and the migrant can leave the tribunal as a resident. If the jury is not convinced by the testimony he or she must return.

Each testimony and each jury decision is documented and archived. The archive of the tribunal will become a source to the understanding of a global situation and of the human heart.

The tribunal is situated in Cannaregio at the end of Calle de la Beccarie, overlooking Ponte Della Libertá.

THE DISPLACED

Each morning a group of displaced arrive at the dock by boat from a center on the mainland. The group ascends to the third floor where they await their turn to testify. The time spent in the tribunal waiting is stressful to most of the migrants. The secretary accompanies each migrant to the tribunal on the fourth floor. The hearing usually takes less than two hours, some times more. The desicion of the jury is given without disussion among its members. As such, every desicion is an individual concern for each memnber of the jury. If the jury finds the migrant’s testimony convincing, a residence permit is produced immediately by the notary. After having received the permit the new citicen leaves the tribunal, entering the city through the square in front of the building. At the end of the day the refused, if any , are transported back to the main land, later to return to their native contries.

THE PUBLIC

The hearings are open to the public. Sixty seats in the tribunal are intended for citizens, relatives, journalists, students and researchers. However, no interference of the testimonies is allowed. Apart from the voice of the migrant, and some muffled sound when the hands of the jury are shown after the testimony is over, the tribunal is very quiet. The square outside the tribunal is busy with people: the air is filled with anticipation and exclamations of joy and relief. Only seldom are there outbursts of anger or silent grief.

THE JURY

The jury consists of six laypeople, one from each continent. They are appointed for a month’s service by the international administrative body. Their assignment is to decide whether the displaced should be granted residency based on her or his testimony. The decision of the jury is a majority desicion where at least five of its members have to agree on the outcome. Each case is set without discussion. While in Venice, the six jurors stay in the quarters on the second floor of the tribunal building, where the meals are prepared and served by the caretakers. In the evening the jury members gather in the parlour or on the terrace to recapitulate the testimonies of the day.

THE SECRETARY

The secretary of the tribunal must speak Italian, English, Spanish and Chinese fluently. It is the secretary’s duty to facilitate the hearing procedures, set the schedules, inform each jury and the public of routines and requirements, arrange for qualified interpreters to be present when needed, and transcribe every testimony for archival purposes. The secretary is not expected to stay on for more than two years.

THE INTERPRETERS

Interpreters of Venice are summoned to the tribunal when their service is needed. In order to qualify one has to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The number of interpreters present each day depends on the origin of the migrants and the composition of the jury. The scheduling of the interpreters is organized by the secretary.

THE NOTARY

The notary is an official clerk whose role is to issue legally correct residency permits to those migrants accepted by the jury. The notary does not engage in the drama of the tribunal. While the displaced give their testimonies the notary arranges the documents and the legal stamps on the desk according to height, size and number.

THE CARETAKERS

The caretakers, a former migrant couple, maintain the daily routines in the building. They prepare meals for the displaced and look after the jury quarters and the waiting rooms. From their flat on the first floor they can reach all parts of the building. They are the only ones that have access to the stairway of the displaced.

THE ARCHIVIST

Every morning the archivist receives a file from the secretary where the testimonies of the day before are transcribed to English, Chinese and Spanish. The testimonies are archived according to date, country of origin and category. The largest categories in the archive are: war, persecution, famine, and hope. When the archivist is not filing or finding testimonies for citizens, journalists, relatives, researchers and students, he sits in his office trying to fathom the existential consequences of the outcome of the ongoing hearings.