The global fight against human trafficking and modern slavery requires leading personalities whose expert knowledge and perspectives are based on their own experience: survivors themselves. Their courage, resilience and deep insights are crucial if effective guidelines and programmes are to be developed. Despite their expert knowledge and dedication, however, “survivor leaders” and the organisations led by them often encounter significant hurdles, particularly in accessing resources, restricting their ability to provide sustainable and effective advocacy work.
The crucial role of survivors in advocacy work
Survivors don´t just play a crucial role in the fight against human trafficking; they also bring a more authentic, credible perspective to advocacy work. Their unique insights and experience are of inestimable value when designing effective measures for fighting human trafficking. Their first-hand knowledge of the tactics of the human traffickers, of the challenges during and after the exploitation, and of gaps in existing support systems can all lead to more reactive and effective guidelines and initiatives.
Survivors dedicate themselves to advocacy work for a wide range of different reasons, including their own personal experiences, a strong sense of justice, desire for change, and even the healing that work of this nature offers them. They use a variety of strategies to exert an influence at national and local level, including:
- Direct advocacy: Personal interactions with politicians and interest groups;
- Base mobilisation: Mobilisation of communities through campaigns, petitions and local events;
- Legislative advocacy: Work to change existing laws or create new ones to better protect victims and highlight the duty of responsibility of perpetrators;
- Media work: Use of a variety of platforms to sensitise and distribute survivors’ stories;
- Publicity work: Education of the public at conferences, schools and community events in order to make the issue easier to grasp.
Integrating survivors into political decision-making processes ensures the measures implemented are not just effective, but also empathetic and tailored to the needs of those affected. This approach shifts the narrative from considering survivors as victims with little ability for action, to acknowledging their role as powerful actors for change. According to the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2023, countries including Canada, Australia and the Philippines have already created platforms for regular consultations between survivors and anti-trafficking actors, in an effort to integrate their perspectives into both legislation and practice. The ASEAN Multi-Sectoral Work Plan Against Trafficking in Persons (Bohol TIP Work Plan 2.0) report also recommends that national advisory boards or committees be set up which include survivors, so their experiences and findings can be used to design more effective policies.
A vicious circle of underfinancing and misunderstanding
Despite their crucial role, survivors and their initiatives are often confronted by powerful hurdles, restricting their ability to provide meaningful and sustainable advocacy work. These include:
- A shocking 47% of survivors use their own personal funds to finance their advocacy work. The subsidies received are often limited, and these rarely cover the actual corporate and advocacy costs.
- The priorities for the financing are often set by creditors rather than survivors themselves. This creates a situation whereby essential needs – funds for transportation, for example (needed by 71% of survivors) or food (required by 60%) – go unnoticed.
- 70% of survivors who were surveyed found the applications complicated and bureaucratic. Such processes often require prior knowledge or considerable administrative capacities, which are often lacked by smaller organisations managed by survivors.
- Funds often only support short-term or crisis-related work, which restricts their long-term effect and ability to fight the basic causes of human trafficking. This leads to uncertainty and difficulty maintaining the company.
- Financing often do not include any definitions for the development of capacities, offering only results-oriented financing instead.
- Survivors often tend to be perceived as beneficiaries rather than leaders. Prejudice regarding the abilities and credibility of survivors means their organisations have often had less opportunities than established third parties.
- There is a lack of trust on the part of creditors, meaning survivors frequently have to use their own funds or personal assets.
- Creditors often traditionally expect quantitative data (“number of survivors saved”, for example), while qualitative valuations, which concentrate on experience and results, should also be recognised as measures of success. The traditional “saviour approach” can increase stigmatisation.
- Many creditors put strict funding criteria in place (minimum amounts of operating years or assets, for example), which exclude new initiatives led by survivors.
- Survivors often struggle with social self-confidence, physical or psychological health as a result of their trauma, which requires flexibility and trauma-informed support.
- Many survivors have no access to established networks or resources in the advocacy and philanthropy community.
- Availability of funds is limited, and these are often not available to survivors directly, but only via third parties.
- The complexity of modern slavery demands nuanced metrics and a people-centred approach, rather than reducing survivors to mere numbers.
- Survivors sometimes feel forced to share their traumatic experiences in a way that exploits their stories or corresponds to the expectations of the creditors, potentially undermining their value.
Ways forward
If access to action is to be improved for survivors, then flexible and unlimited financing, comprehensive capacity development programmes, simplified processes, collaborative and ethical partnerships, and tailored compensation and support are all crucial. Supporting the base work and global knowledge exchange in this way can help strengthen organisations of survivors worldwide.
By implementing these recommendations, the anti-slavery movement can be helped to “create access to measures” which mobilise a collective movement and create lasting change in the fight against human trafficking. For such efforts to be successful, it is not just beneficial but urgently necessary that the voices of survivors be promoted, and that it be ensured they have a place at the table where decisions are reached.
Translated by Tim Lywood
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