A Call to Action: Positioning Survivor Leaders as Future Leaders in the Movement
Creator: r2hox | Copyright Notice: © June 7, 2016, r2hox. All rights reserved. | License Notice: This material is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 2.0). View license details [here]. Link to Material
For too long, the narrative surrounding survivor leadership in the fight against human trafficking and slavery has been paradoxically both glorified and constrained. Our stories, rich with resilience and courage, have often been spotlighted as powerful tools to awaken the public, inspiring action, and supporting allies' work in the sector. Yet, this same movement that elevates our voices for inspiration has, historically, fallen short of fully embracing the breadth of our capabilities, inadvertently perpetuating a cycle of tokenization. Survivors have been heralded for the traumas we've endured rather than the expertise and leadership we bring, unintentionally leading to re-victimization and re-traumatization. This has fostered an unconscious bias that undermines our role as leading stakeholders, relegating us to the sidelines where our contributions are seen more as emotional leverage than as substantive, equal partnership. The unfortunate reality has been a movement where survivors are often used as the face of the cause to elicit public empathy and support, while simultaneously being denied the space to exercise our full potential as equals. This dynamic hampers the movement's growth and reinforces a damaging narrative that our value is tied solely to our pasts, rather than our insights, skills, and visions for the future.
This is where the motivation for the Action Plan For Survivor Leadership in the Next Decade came from. Acting as a transformation catalyst, it inspires policy and practice changes. It's a call to action to place survivors at the forefront of the anti-trafficking and anti-slavery movement. The Action Plan outlines our vision for making this a reality within the next decade, shifting the culture and mindset in the professional anti-trafficking sector towards valuing survivors’ lived experiences.
As we look to the future, our vision for survivor leadership transcends the conventional narratives of advocacy and storytelling. It's a vision where we, as survivors, leverage our lived experiences to inform, shape, educate, support, and advocate across a broad spectrum of sectors. We understand the profound impact our voices can have in the anti-trafficking and anti-slavery movement. It's not just about taking a stand; it's about being integral stakeholders, shaping the future of how society responds to, supports, and combats human trafficking and slavery, while compassionately and effectively serving survivors. We are only stepping into roles that not only require our expertise but also value our unique perspectives and insights.
Why is our leadership so vital? Because we carry within us an unparalleled depth of understanding and empathy that when supported by field expertise, allows us to identify the sector’s gaps, strengthen its work, and, more importantly, envision pathways toward progress. When we speak, we do so with the authority of experience and expertise. Our voices, woven into the fabric of mental health care, law enforcement, organizational leadership, and policy-making, are not just additive; they are transformative. We don't just fill a gap; we redefine the spaces we are a part of, bringing strategies, policies, and practices alive with the vibrancy of our truths. It's about more than being seen; it's about reshaping the landscape of support and advocacy to be truly inclusive, effective, and empathetic.
Our roles as pioneers are underscored by our innate capacity to nurture spaces where empathy reigns—where the language of understanding, belief, and visibility becomes the new standard by which our sector operates. Our leadership challenges and dismantles the traditional hierarchies and oppressive structures by which abusers thrive and exist in the first place, replacing them with a model of governance that is rooted in the principles of equity, compassion, respect, and genuine empowerment.
This is why our ascent into positions of influence is not just beneficial but essential. Our perspectives, our goals, and our visions for the future carry within them the seeds of transformation for the entire anti-trafficking movement. This is not just a call to action; it's a declaration of our intrinsic value and the critical role we play in not just asking for change but being the embodiment of it. In this future, our roles are as varied as our experiences, yet united by a common purpose: to use our lived experiences not just to inform others but to lead and shape the movement from within. It's a future where the strength of our survivorship and the depth of our leadership ensure that no one has to "ask" for change because we are already living it, making it, being it.
Because when we lead with our experiences, the entire movement is empowered to achieve its fullest potential. This is our vision, our commitment, and our invitation to allies in the sector: to recognize, embrace, and champion the diverse and powerful contributions of survivor leadership.
In the coming months, we invite you to engage with insights from the facilitators who have played a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of over 300 survivors, culminating in the creation of the Action Plan. Through a series of forthcoming blogs, we'll delve into critical discussions on the core themes outlined in the Action Plan. These discussions will encompass a range of vital topics, including fostering a diverse and inclusive movement, reshaping the media and cultural narrative around human trafficking and slavery, the creation and dissemination of knowledge, nurturing relationships with allies, enhancing decision-making processes, and refining direct services.
Join us in reclaiming the movement that we initiated, developed, and continue to support as its backbone. We are excited to journey alongside each of you, as we collectively navigate the path forward. Together, let's embrace this opportunity to strengthen the movement with our shared commitment, insights, and actions.
Together, we are the change.
Written by Christabelle Robinson.
Christabelle has close to 10 years of survivor advocacy experience including blogs, interviews, and public speaking on human trafficking and related issues focusing on disability and neurodivergent accommodations and awareness, as well as ethical and equitable survivor engagement in professional spaces. They are experienced in program development, training curriculum development and facilitation, writing, and marketing.
In addition to her work in the human trafficking field, Christabelle brings to this position a wealth of experience developing communications strategy and social media campaigns as an independent consultant to private companies and non-profit organizations. Since 2017, her focus has been on ethical and inclusive marketing and product design that is designed to include people from all walks of life.