On November 13th, just over 3 years since the publication of The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), The Survivors Trust hosted an in-person campaign event in Westminster to raise awareness on the 20 recommendations it makes to Government. This event was a part of The Survivors Trust’s wider Act on IICSA campaign that pressures Government for all recommendations of the inquiry to be met in Acts of Parliament. As a member organisation of The Survivors Trust, We Are Survivors attended to provide a platform for male survivors of child sexual abuse to have their voices heard.
A central theme of the day was that of child sexual abuse being ‘the elephant in the room’ for today’s law-makers, with 500,000 children being sexually abused every year. Further, as of 2025, successive governments have only carried out 3 of IICSA’s 20 recommendations to tackle this staggering number.
The event oriented around addresses made by Professor Alexis Jay as former Chair of the inquiry, having gave an interview to Channel 4 previously that day. She was joined by survivors that gave their stories as part of the original inquiry, as well comedian Mark O’Sullivan and East Enders’ Kellie Bright who read out other survivor testimonies. All attendees had the chance to speak their truth to Members of Parliament, lawmakers, and journalists from Channel 4.
It was imperative that there was NO CONVERSATION ABOUT US WITHOUT US. As such, Christopher Egan as Lived Experience Lead worked alongside volunteer Colin Brown in writing up testimonies to read out at the event. This served as an inaugural moment for We Are Survivors’ Loud Voices volunteer programme. We Are Survivors are immensely proud of Colin and Christopher for delivering their testimonies to a crowded room of highly influential peoples, and we applaud them for their bravery to BREAK THE SILENCE AROUND MEN AND BOYS SEXUAL HARMS.
Theo Aarons as our Communications & Engagement Coordinator provided professional photography for the event. Rory Brooke and Jonathan King, as Information & Policy Coordinator and Criminal Justice Services Executive respectively, oversaw and managed We Are Survivors’ presence at Act on IICSA, further summarising the organisation’s position in response to questions from lawmakers and journalists.
We Are Survivors belief that all barriers survivors of child sexual abuse face, whether these be across the criminal justice process or everyday life, can be distilled to solutions presented in all 20 IICSA recommendations. We Are Survivors will continue to work The Survivors Trust and its membership organisations to keep up the pressure on Government to implement all of these recommendations.
