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Safeguarding in the Humanitarian Sector: Translators as Part of the Protection System

When a humanitarian logo appears in a camp, a school or a clinic, it carries a promise: you can trust us.

Safeguarding, a subset of protection, is the way organizations keep that promise — by making sure their staff, programs and partners do not harm people, especially those who are already at risk. Translators and revisers are often left out of this conversation, even though we work directly on codes of conduct, complaints mechanisms, investigation reports and survivor testimonies.

This article looks at safeguarding from a humanitarian perspective with two audiences in mind:

  • EN–FR translators and revisers, who need to navigate sensitive concepts with precision;
  • Humanitarian and development organizations, who rely on language professionals and want to see that we fully understand their safeguarding obligations.

1. What do we mean by “safeguarding”?

In the humanitarian and development sector, safeguarding has a specific meaning. It is more than general “protection”; it is about preventing our staff, operations and programs from causing harm, abuse or exploitation to the people we serve.

It includes, but is not limited to:

  • sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA);
  • physical, emotional and psychological abuse;
  • neglect, discrimination, exclusion and economic exploitation;
  • abuse linked to power, gender, disability, age or status.

In practical terms, safeguarding is both:

  • a standard of conduct (what staff and associated personnel must and must not do); and
  • a system (policies, procedures, reporting channels, investigations and survivor support).

We don’t design that system. Our role is to ensure that when it’s described in English and French, the meaning stays intact. We do not change the facts, we do not reframe allegations, we do not “correct” the ethics of a text.

Our contribution is: accurate meaning, correct safeguarding terminology, and respect for the client’s own definitions and policies.

2. “Safeguarding” in French — choosing and sticking to a solution

There is no perfect one-word French equivalent for safeguarding. some major NGOs have stuck to “sauvegarde” simply to align with the English cognate. While ‘sûreté’ is often linguistically superior, if a client is already married to ‘sauvegarde’ (however awkward), we follow the money. For our own practice we treat “sûreté” as our default fallback. The key point is not to invent a new term each time, but to mirror the client’s own choices.

In real projects, you will typically see:

  • Client-specific formulations, such as:
    • “politique de sauvegarde”
    • “protection contre l’exploitation et les abus sexuels et autres atteintes à l’intégrité”
    • “protection et sûreté des populations concernées”

Translator tips

  • Don’t automatically translate safeguarding as “protection” on its own. That collapses a specific duty (preventing staff-caused harm) into the much broader notion of protection des civils.
  • Check: code of conduct, PSEA policy, HR manual, internal glossary. Use their wording. If they keep safeguarding as sauvegarde, follow suit.
  • If the client has no clear convention, use “sûreté” or “sûreté des populations concernées” as your fallback and keep it consistent across the project.

3. The policy backbone (very briefly)

We don’t need to be lawyers, but we should recognize the main reference points that appear all over humanitarian texts:

  • UN “special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse” (the SG’s bulletin that defines SEA and sets core rules for UN personnel).
  • “Zero tolerance” for SEA — a political and disciplinary stance repeated in many policies.
  • IASC Six Core Principles on SEA — widely adopted across UN agencies and NGOs.
  • PSEA (Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) frameworks, often extended to safeguarding more broadly.
  • Various agency- or NGO-specific safeguarding policies, child protection policies and codes of conduct.

For translators, these instruments serve mainly as terminology and concept anchors. When we see SEA, PSEA, SG’s bulletin numbers, IASC principles, we know they point to something precise that should be translated consistently.

4. Who is being safeguarded — and why it matters for language

Safeguarding is about people who are in contact with humanitarian programs and personnel, especially those exposed to multiple risks:

  • children and adolescents,
  • older people,
  • people with disabilities,
  • people living with HIV,
  • people of diverse genders and sexualities,
  • people receiving assistance (cash, food, services, documentation, etc.),
  • sometimes family members of staff, sex workers, and others in vulnerable positions.

Our job is not to decide how risk is defined — that’s in the text. Our job is to ensure that, for example:

  • “children with disabilities” does not become “enfants handicapés” if the client consistently uses “enfants en situation de handicap”;
  • “people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities” is not reduced to something vague like “minorités sexuelles” if the original is more specific;
  • neutral, non-stigmatizing formulations in the source stay neutral and non-stigmatizing in the target.

We do not erase or add categories; we mirror what is written with current, appropriate equivalents.

5. How language can help or hinder safeguarding — within our mandate

Training materials on safeguarding highlight multiple barriers to reporting abuse: fear of retaliation, shame, lack of information, disability-related barriers, language barriers, distrust of institutions, etc.

We cannot fix all of that with a translation. But some things are directly in our hands:

  • A complaints poster written in simple English needs to remain simple in French.
  • A child-friendly leaflet must sound child-friendly in French if it does in English (short sentences, clear vocabulary, no unnecessary bureaucratese).
  • A code of conduct that clearly lists forbidden behaviors must be just as explicit in French — not watered down by euphemisms or over-abstract nouns.

Translator tip

  • If the source is “Easy to Read,” child-friendly or disability-accessible, treat “hardening” the language as a translation error. Our job is to preserve accessibility, not add complexity.
  • If the client wants a different level of accessibility in French (e.g. full rewriting, culturally adapted content), that becomes a separate task (adaptation/copywriting) and should be clearly labeled and paid as such.

6. What safeguarding does mean for translators and revisers

There are two layers here: how we behave as humanitarian collaborators, and how we work on the text. Both matter, but in different ways.

6.1. Behavioral obligations (as “associated personnel”)

Even as freelancers, we are often covered by the organization’s definition of “staff” or “associates” in their codes of conduct and PSEA clauses. That usually implies:

  • reading and accepting the code of conduct/safeguarding policy;
  • following rules on contact with communities if we travel or work on site;
  • knowing how to report a safeguarding concern if we see one in the course of our work.

This part is not “translation work” — it’s just us being bound by the same basic standards as other collaborators. We follow the client’s procedures; we do not run our own parallel investigation or contact people mentioned in the text.

6.2. Professional responsibilities (as language specialists)

Within the text itself, our safeguarding-related responsibilities are much more precise — and limited:

  1. Accuracy first, including syntax
    Our first duty is fidelity to the source: we do not add allegations, we do not remove or soften them, and we do not change the narrative angle of a sentence because we prefer a different framing. In general, we aim for fluid, idiomatic French — including rebranchement syntaxique and the usual strategies to avoid heavy, clumsy calques. But safeguarding, investigation and misconduct documents are areas where we act with extra caution: some syntactic choices are part of the message.
    If the English says: A girl was raped by a staff member, we do not decide to rewrite it as: Un membre du personnel a violé une fille on the grounds that the active form is a “better French”.
    That change is not just stylistic. It:
    — moves the subject from the girl to the staff member,
    — shifts the focus from “what happened to the girl” to “what the staff member did,”
    — can be read as a different level of assertion in an investigative or legal context.
    Those choices — whose perspective is foregrounded, how strongly responsibility is stated — belong to the author, investigator or judge, not to us.
    Our rule of thumb:
    We always recommend idiomatic, natural French, but in safeguarding texts we do not alter the sentence architecture in ways that change who is in focus, who is agent, or how firmly responsibility is framed.
  2. Correct safeguarding terminology
    We align with the client’s internal glossary, and if they don’t have one, we at least keep consistency within the project. We ensure that core terms and acronyms are used consistently and correctly:
    • safeguarding, SEA, PSEA, SH, victim, survivor, complainant, retaliation, whistle-blower, duty of care, etc.;
    • titles of policies and bulletins;
    • names of mechanisms (grievance mechanism, complaints mechanism, reporting line, etc.).
  3. Respect for institutional definitions and frameworks If a policy defines SEA, child, staff, associated personnel, etc., our translation must stick closely to that definition.
    • We do not “improve” the definition or add extra conditions.
    • We do not import wording from another organization’s definition because it is “more accurate.”
  4. Security and confidentiality of sensitive content Safeguarding-related texts often contain:
    • survivor accounts, investigation reports, disciplinary decisions, HR records.
    Our responsibilities here are standard but critical:
    • follow the client’s instructions on file transfer and storage;
    • avoid reusing sensitive material in general TMs or third-party tools without explicit agreement;
    • keep case details confidential.
  5. Knowing when to escalate — via the client’s channel, not ours
    If a text clearly describes abuse or exploitation as an allegation being raised, it is usually already inside an official process.
    If, exceptionally, you encounter content that appears to reveal a serious safeguarding incident outside that framework, you don’t act on your own initiative; you:
    • check the organization’s reporting procedure;
    • notify the designated focal point or your direct counterpart, in line with their protocol.

And that’s it. No commentary on the merits of the case, no detective work.

7. EN–FR microglossary: core safeguarding terms

Here is a small, translation-focused reminder of frequent terms. You would adapt it to your client’s preferences, of course.

  • Safeguarding
    • EN: safeguarding
    • Typical FR options: sauvegarde (des personnes) / sûreté et protection des personnes / politique de sauvegarde
    • Check how the client uses it in titles and internal comms.
  • Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA)
    • EN: sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA)
    • FR: exploitation et abus sexuels (EAS)
    • In “PSEA”: protection from/against sexual exploitation and abuse → protection contre l’exploitation et les abus sexuels.
  • Sexual harassment (SH)
    • EN: sexual harassment
    • FR: harcèlement sexuel
    • Distinct from SEA in many policies (often framed as workplace misconduct rather than abuse of affected populations).
  • Affected populations/people receiving assistance
    • EN: affected populations; people receiving assistance; crisis-affected people.
    • FR: populations touchées; personnes concernées, etc..
    • Some organizations move away from “bénéficiaires” alone; mirror the client.
  • Victim / Survivor / Complainant / Witness
    • EN: victim; survivor; complainant; witness.
    • FR: victime; survivant(e); plaignant(e); témoin.
    • Some organizations systematically favor “survivor” in narrative texts and keep “victim” for legal contexts; follow their pattern, don’t create your own.
  • Whistle-blower/retaliation
    • EN: whistle-blower; retaliation.
    • FR: lanceur / lanceuse d’alerte; représailles.
    • Often appears in clauses protecting staff who report SEA/safeguarding concerns.
  • People of diverse genders, sexualities or bodies (LGBTIQ+)
    • EN: LGBTIQ+ people; people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions and sex characteristics.
    • FR: personnes lesbiennes, gays, bisexuelles, transgenres et intersexes (LGBTI); or personnes de diverses orientations sexuelles, identités et expressions de genre et caractéristiques sexuelles.
    • Many organizations have a standard SOGIESC formulation — always use the client’s.

Translator tip
For each new client, treat safeguarding terms as you would legal terminology: build a mini-glossary, get it validated, and then defend its consistency like a contract drafter defends a defined term.

8. What clients can realistically expect from a safeguarding-aware translator

If you’re a humanitarian or development organization, here is what a serious EN–FR translator/reviser can offer you in the safeguarding space without overstepping their mandate:

  • Terminological discipline
    Your translator ensures that SEA, SH, PSEA, safeguarding, victim/survivor, staff/associated personnel, etc., are used correctly and consistently across your English and French outputs.
  • Fidelity to your policies and procedures
    Definitions, thresholds, examples — all are reflected accurately, without being toned down or “strengthened” based on mainstream or personal views.
  • Respect for your register and audience
    Child-friendly version? Disability-accessible leaflet? Internal legal guidance? The translation mirrors the level of complexity and style of the source. No unnecessary jargon added, no deliberate simplification unless you have asked for an adapted version.
  • Secure handling of sensitive files
    Clear agreements on tools, transfer methods, and retention. No casual cloud uploads of investigation reports.
  • Basic safeguarding literacy
    The translator understands what SEA, PSEA and safeguarding refer to, knows they are bound by your code of conduct, and knows where to send a concern if something in the material suggests a risk that is not already being handled.

9. Conclusion: precision, not activism

Safeguarding is a charged, sensitive field. Many of us have strong personal opinions about how institutions should talk about abuse, power and accountability.

As translators and revisers, our added value is not to rewrite texts according to our ethics. Our role is to:

  • understand the safeguarding framework well enough not to misinterpret or mislabel anything;
  • use accurate, up-to-date terminology;
  • keep survivor-related content confidential and secure;
  • remain absolutely faithful to the meaning and tone of the source.

Done consistently, this is not a small thing. Good safeguarding translation doesn’t make headlines, but it helps keep policies enforceable, procedures clear and rights intelligible across languages.

In a sector where trust is fragile and words carry legal, ethical and human weight, that kind of precision is exactly where our professional authority lies.