Being Survivor-Centred: What it Means in Practice

By Camila Marin Restrepo, Communities Officer 

Many organisations across the human rights sector refer to victim or survivor centred approaches but can sometimes find it difficult to translate the theory into practice. To support the anti-torture movement in its practical implementation of survivor-centred approaches, REDRESS has published a set of nine guiding principles. These principles outline our understanding of what a survivor-centred approach to justice and reparations is. 

Survivors of torture and human rights violations are not a homogenous group. There is no one-size-fits-all approach as each context will differ. REDRESS’ principles provide a framework for organisations to analyse their cases, projects and wider organisational practices to understand how they can make processes more survivor-centred.   

Since REDRESS’ inception, survivors have been central to our mandate. We were founded over three decades ago by Keith Carmichael, who was subjected to torture and arbitrary detention in Saudi Arabia. Since then, we have advocated for victims’ rights and obtained reparations for survivors across the globe. In recent years, we have sought to advance our thinking and practice through the development of the Survivor Advisory Group. This process has been fundamental in allowing REDRESS to meaningfully promote survivor participation and empowerment. 

Whilst survivor participation is a legal right, accountability and reparation processes can often exclude survivors. We see that amongst the anti-torture movement, discussions about torture prevention and accountability are often held without survivors present. This is something that needs to change.  

 These principles aim to reframe the power imbalance between survivors and human rights organisations, so that survivors are no longer treated simply as victims, but as human beings with agency, skills, expertise, and resilience from which we can learn. With emboldened nationalist and populist parties in power across the globe that actively undermine human rights treaties and international law, we hope that these principles will contribute to a coherent survivor centred practice amongst human rights practitioners and a stronger, bolder anti-torture movement, that places survivors at the centre.