IDSVT: Survivors Speak OUT, past, present & future
Today is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. In honour of the day, find out more about SSO and their movement.
*Blog by SSO*
Today is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (IDSVT).
Today means a lot to someone’s who’s survived torture - it’s an acknowledgement that torture happens and signifies that there are people out there willing to participate in the fight against it.
Collectively, we must use today to call out all torturing countries. We must stand together and say no torture.
Today is both inspiring and challenging - though it acknowledges our movement, it also symbolises many horrendous experiences for people who have survived torture We are reminded of who we were and who we’ve become.
No one chooses to be a torture survivor or victim. It’s a painful process and we know that you aren’t a survivor without hardship.
For some people, this is a very dark day. But we must embrace ourselves and our journeys.
We hope that you will read this blog to find out more about how we got here and where we’re going next.
When did SSO first form as a group?
The Survivors Speak OUT network first formed back in 2006. I proposed the idea to a few friends when I realised that survivors needed to be able to advocate for themselves.
It started as a few friends meeting in our apartments but before long, there were 16 of us and we needed a proper space to meet. That’s when we decided to approach Freedom from Torture.
We wanted to speak out, but we needed the expertise of Freedom from Torture to know that we could do it safely, without the danger of putting ourselves and families at risk.
It was in 2009 that SSO as we know it came to be. We confirmed funding and planned out our mission. We’ve been fighting torture ever since.
What’s it been like advocating on the behalf of survivors?
Our survivor-led model is the first of its kind.
We had some teething problems at first - largely around risk and fears of retraumatisation.
However, there needs to be a balance between vulnerability and agency. Because when survivors are cast as too vulnerable, their agency is compromised and they are prevented from advocating for themselves and standing up against torture.
We’re also constantly challenged by the need for anonymity and security for our members. We have to strike a balance between speaking out and safety, but we’re getting it right.
When it comes to advocacy, it was challenging getting a seat at the table, but we kept on knocking on doors until they opened for us.
What does it mean to you to know that survivors are the ones leading the way in the fight against torture?
We must have the ability and platform to speak without fear of repercussions.
It’s paramount that torture survivors are leading this fight - we know the true impact of torture and being silenced, so we must be part of the discussion.
This is the only way to create effective and sustainable policies against torture. There is no way to create policies without us.
To put it simply, if you’re sick, you’re the only one who can describe to the doctor what the pain is. And you’re the only one to say if the medicine is working too.
Our movement hopes to unite all survivors together in this fight against torture. But we need allies.
What does the future hold for SSO?
SSO has existed for over a decade now - we’ve achieved a lot since it started. We’re now in a position where we can expand our horizons to empower other survivors out there to create a wider movement and call out this evil act.
We’re going to be a big movement - it’s time for us to lead, we want to develop skills, we want to give people the skills to be advocating for themselves. We want to give people the confidence to say this is wrong. We want to have a mass of torture survivors saying no, and shaping the policies in this country and the rest of the world too.
The time is now for us to help others. This is the start of a movement.
SSO has come so far that sometimes I am surprised at the level of authority that SSO has today. I remember that at the beginning my objective was just about making a name for SSO - at the start, we were just six people and making a name for ourselves seemed enough.
Now, we sit with ministers and MPs and we have direct conversations with those at the top of the Home Office. We’re opening doors that it’s hard for other people to open. Anything that is torture survivor related in the UK now, you’ll see the stamp of SSO somewhere.
Introducing our new brand
We’ve also chosen IDSVT to launch our new brand. Our bold new visual identity makes a strong statement about who we are as people who have survived torture and is true to our independent expert voices.
We felt it was time to revamp our brand to reflect our growth, and our new direction and vision of sharing our experience and expertise to bring informal migration activism groups together to form a movement.
This brand refresh is also an important representation of our partnership with Freedom from Torture. Our new visual identity maintains our link with Freedom from Torture’s brand, while speaking to our independence and unique personality.
Survivor empowerment is at the very heart of Survivors Speak OUT. It is important that our new brand not only reflects our new vision but also makes it very clear that no discussion or policy about us should be made without us.
This key message of ‘nothing about us, without us’ was the engine behind the co-creation process used to craft our new visual identity.
We worked hard to develop the new brand we’re proud to introduce today.