MiTA - Migration Translation Application

The Migration Translation Application (MiTA) is a smartphone application, developed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), that allows migration management officials in the Western Balkans to access a basic interpretation service with pre-determined and pre-recorded questions during first contact with migrants. The extra-regional languages included in the MiTA are: Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, Kurdish, Somali, French, and English. The Western Balkan languages included in the MiTA are: Albanian, Macedonian and Bosnian/Montenegrin/Serbian. The aim of the MiTA is to provide a basic mode of communication between the migration management official (ex. border official) and the migrant during their first contact. The questions included in application are intended to facilitate the communication between the official and the migrant during initial contact, and focus on the migrant’s identity, country of origin, travel route and immediate protection needs. The application should not be used during official migration procedures which could have legal and procedural consequences for the migrant in later stages (ex. official statements, asylum interviews, BIAs, vulnerability assessments). Direct translation provided by a competent interpreter in a language that the migrant understands is always the preferred option in migration procedures and is an essential part of a protection sensitive migration management system which ensures and prioritizes the full respect the rights of migrants. MiTA is a native application developed for Android and iOS that operates offline. The application does not retain, store or collect the data that is entered within it. The application includes a feature to extract the entered data locally on the mobile device or through e-mail. This application was developed by the International Organization for Migration, under the auspices of the EU-funded IPA II project “Regional Support to Protection Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey”.