Legal Consequences of Violating the Principle of Equivalence when Translating Conventions that are Sources of International Labor Law
УДК 81.26, ББК 81.2
Abstract
The article discusses the urgent problem of violation of the principle of equivalence in the translation of international conventions in the field of labor law into Russian. The authors emphasize that the translator should strive to convey the content of the original as fully as possible, ensuring semantic proximity and equivalence of the texts. However, in practice, the official Russian-language versions of documents often show significant discrepancies with the authentic texts in English and French.
As illustrative examples the article analyzes translations of ILO Conventions № 132, № 87, № 155, № 187, as well as the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers. The study reveals systemic errors, such as inaccurate selection of terminological equivalents (for example, "employers" as "entrepreneurs" instead of "employers" in Convention No. 87, confusion of the concepts of "workplace hygiene" and "occupational safety and health" in Conventions No. 155 and No. 187) and distortion of key concepts ("public and custom holidays" as "State and national holidays and non-working days" in Convention No. 132). Of particular concern is an error in the 1990 UN Convention, where the right to participate in elections is mistakenly attributed to the host state rather than the state of origin.
Such inaccuracies not only distort the original meaning of international standards, but also make it difficult to understand and apply them correctly, which can lead to erroneous interpretations in academic literature and law enforcement practice. The authors conclude that in order to ensure the correct implementation of international norms in national legislation, a more rigorous approach to translation is needed, including the development of mechanisms for updating and correcting existing translated texts in accordance with the principle of equivalence.
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