Engaging with ‘lived experience’ is quickly becoming non-negotiable in the human trafficking and modern slavery sector. Survivors are no longer to be treated as mere targets of interventions. Instead, anti-trafficking organisations are expected to involve them in policy and programme design and implementation, and support them to become effective advocates in their own right.
It will surprise some to learn that this was not always the case. After all, survivors know best what happened to them. They will have valuable insights on what could prevent others from falling into similar traps.
Yet, anti-trafficking policies and programmes have historically been a closed shop. Generally speaking, a narrow set of people – governments, a small number of (often faith-based) NGOs, and their elite allies from around the world – have dominated discussions. Those who have experienced forms of trafficking have been kept out.
