We want to be heard: a victim empowerment approach to interviewing survivors of torture

Researchers face significant ethical and sensitivity challenges when conducting interviews with survivors of torture, including the need to protect participants, minimize the distress of memory recollection, ensure justice for survivors, and safeguard the well-being of both survivors and researchers. While studies of victimized communities such as Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are growing, there is little reflective discussion on how researchers navigate these ethical complexities. Building on Stanley’s (2012) critical approach to studying torture and drawing on my experience of interviewing an exiled Uyghur torture survivor and a Falun Gong torture survivor, in this research note, I offer first-hand insights into the challenges of interviewing survivors. I propose a victim empowerment approach, which consists of three interlinked strategies: creating an environment that reduces potential distress during memory recollection, adopting a storytelling-centred interview style, and amplifying survivors’ voices rather than anonymizing or silencing them.