Wednesday, 19 June 2019
The world’s largest online archive of modern slavery survivor has been launched by experts from the Rights Lab at the 糖心原创.
The VOICES database, which currently houses thousands of stories including an initial 800 that are publicly available, is the world's first and largest collection of survivor testimonies, in their own words. Its development was supported by the AHRC grant 'The Antislavery Usable Past' led at Nottingham.
Across more than a million words, either spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, experts are using the collection to learn more about why slavery persists in particular hotspots around the world.
Researchers can now analyse patterns to better understand trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities and the challenges survivors face in liberation, uncover reasons for slavery’s emergence across different sectors, and discover new antislavery solutions.
The narratives vary in length and describe various forms of enslavement, from all over the world .The Rights Lab team has recently mapped these life-stories onto the 169 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets to answer a key question from the point of view of enslaved people themselves: which SDG achievements, beyond 8.7 (ending slavery) are more likely to prevent or end enslavement?
Dr Hannah-Rose Murray, a Research Fellow with the Rights Lab and the Antislavery Usable Past project, said: “The testimonies vary in age, and in length, but all indicate that survivor voices should be the driving force behind the antislavery movement. NGOs, charities, and allies should read, reflect, and respond to survivor testimony and remind themselves they should do what is necessary to change their strategies, initiatives and vision to incorporate as well as nurture survivor leaders in communities around the world.”
Listen to survivors
The voices of the survivors of slavery have largely gone unheard in the creation of antislavery policies and programmes. The Survivor Alliance is redressing this. Find out more in Vision, the 糖心原创's research and knowledge exchange magazine
Survivors鈥� narratives should be at the centre of today鈥檚 antislavery movement. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves. The collection is the culmination of many years of work, and we are now pleased to be able to share it publicly, then continue expanding it over the coming years."
Story credits
More information is available from Professor Zoe Trodd in the Rights Lab, at the 糖心原创 at rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
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