The Survivor Voice: Interviewing Victims of Human Trafficking

Interviewing a person who has been a victim of human trafficking raises several ethical questions regarding the sensitivity of the topic and the traumatic history of each survivor. As journalists continue to cover stories related to modern slavery, it can be helpful to have a better understanding of how to interview survivors of these type of crimes. This webinar provided tips for interviewing survivors of human trafficking, forced labour, and sexual exploitation. A major focus was placed on how to conduct interviews that minimise re‐traumatisation and yield evidence of the victim’s experience of the crime. It also approached other strategies to effectively interview victims of trauma such as building rapport as the first step when getting in touch with victims. Speakers included Sanne Terlingen and an anonymous survivor of modern slavery. This webinar was organised by Journalismfund’s Modern Slavery Unveiled programme. This was the fourth webinar of the series of online training that aims to assist journalists and Civil Society Organisations who come into contact with human trafficking victims. 

Watch the webinar

The Survivor Voice: Interviewing Victims of Human Trafficking features two speakers with experience on this topic:

• Sanne Terlingen is an investigative reporter currently working for Lost in Europe and previously for Argos, the main investigative radio programme in the Netherlands. She primarily reports on migration, trafficking, child sexual abuse and organized crime. 
• Anonymous survivor. Any journalist shining a light on human trafficking wants to include the voice of a survivor; because nobody tells a story better than someone with lived experience. However, survivors of these crimes do not feel always comfortable with the attitude of the journalists to getting information from their testimonies. The survivor will tell his/her own experience and explain what went well and wrong in her/his encounter with journalists.   

Date: Wednesday 22 June 2022; 15:00 (CEST, Brussels).

Time:
09:00 AM (Washington, DC, Toronto)
14:00 (London, Tunis)
15:00 (Berlin, Cairo, Paris, Johannesburg)
16:00 (Amman, Moscow, Kampala, Nairobi, Istanbul)
18:00 (Islamabad)
18:30 (Delhi)
19:00 (Dhaka)
20:00 (Bangkok, Jakarta, Hanoi)
21:00 (Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Manila)
22:00 (Tokyo, Seoul)