Introduction: A commitment to survivor-centred advocacy

Throughout my research and advocacy career, I have centred the needs, experiences, and perspectives of Black migrants, refugees, and asylum-seeking survivors — individuals and communities whose lives are shaped by intersecting systems of displacement, racialisation, and violence. I approach this work as someone who straddles the line between agnosticism and atheism, yet I have long been in community with and worked alongside faith leaders and practitioners, faith-based advocates, and religious institutions. This proximity has showcased the complex role of faith in the lives of migrant and refugee populations, as a source of profound spiritual and material support, and, at times, as a mechanism of harm when left unexamined.

 We are living through a period of intensified displacement and migration, where survivors of all ages, genders, and sexualities are increasingly crossing borders. The prevalence of SGBV during transit and within host countries has also risen, underscoring the urgent need for ethical, culturally grounded, and faith-literate responses. This blog, written as part of the SVRI Faith & GBV Community of Practice, Working Group 1 on Evidence-Building, reflects the complex realities of faith across borders for migrant and displaced survivors. [1] [2]

The complexity of faith: Navigating risk, resilience, and the need for faith-literate support

For many migrants and forcibly displaced people, faith travels with them, shaping how they navigate life in their host societies. It serves as a source of meaning and strength during transition and upheaval. In the context of forced displacement, personal religious practices, such as prayer, scripture reading, and spiritual reflection, have been documented as powerful coping strategies for survivors of GBV and trafficking. In one study, African migrant women who had experienced multiple forms of violence described their faith in God as their “only lifeline” through cycles of exploitation and loss. [3] [4]

However, religion is far from universally protective. A growing body of evidence, including the SEREDA Project’s cross-country research, shows that religion can also function as a risk factor. Survivors in the United Kingdom, Turkey, Sweden, and Australia shared how religious leaders sometimes urged them to remain in abusive relationships, invoking religious texts to normalise suffering or discourage divorce. In these cases, religion did not serve their healing; it deepened their harm.

Despite these risks, faith remains central to the lives of many survivors, not as a peripheral identity but as a foundational system of meaning, connection, and resilience. What is often missing is not the presence of faith but the presence of faith-literate support systems: Survivor-centred services that engage spiritual needs as part of a holistic response. This includes acknowledging that religious beliefs can both offer protection and strength, while recognising that betrayal by faith leaders or communities can result in deep spiritual injury.

However, the integration of faith-based resources and response into domestic and sexual violence services for migrants and marginalised communities remains underdeveloped. A 2024 scoping review found that few frontline service providers have received training in religious literacy or trauma-informed approaches to engaging survivors of faith. This gap becomes particularly harmful when faith leaders — often the first, and for some, the only point of disclosure — offer advice that minimises, justifies, or spiritualises violence rather than challenging or disrupting it. [5] [6]

Actions for a faith-sensitive response to migrant and forcibly displaced survivors

To better meet the needs of migrants and forcibly displaced survivors, we must:

• Train both service providers and faith actors in survivor-centred, spiritually literate care that upholds bodily autonomy, challenges patriarchal and hierarchical interpretations, and engages with interfaith complexity;
• Acknowledge and address spiritual harm as a critical component of healing. Many survivors must grapple not only with the aftermath of violence but also with the loss of trust in a divine or institutional framework once held sacred.
• Foster theological frameworks that affirm dignity, justice, and liberation, especially for those whose experiences are marginalised by religious narratives and institutions, such as LGBTQ+ migrants.
• Create space for survivors to define their spiritual journeys, including those that involve departure from, reimagining, or returning to faith on their terms.

Faith-sensitive, culturally competent care is not a niche concern; it is essential to any serious effort to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in migration contexts. To truly support survivors, we must move beyond the binary of religion as either a refuge or a risk and begin to engage with it as a site of contestation, agency, and possibility.

Conclusion: Religion as a site of possibility

As a researcher and advocate who works with African and descendant African migrant communities, I carry the testimonies of survivors who have endured systemic abandonment and spiritual violence. I take the histories of people who have drawn on ancestral belief systems, scriptures, and rituals to survive the legacies of colonialism, racial capitalism, and displacement.

There is something profoundly necessary about the involvement of faith communities in building the kinds of futures that many of us dream toward – futures that are decolonial, free of violence, and rooted in communal care. In my work with faith-based actors, from chaplains to executive directors, I have witnessed intentional, justice-rooted interpretations of religious texts and faith practices. Their commitment to disrupting harm is rooted in an awareness of how colonialism, capitalism, racism, sexism, and heterosexism intersect to produce both religious and secular spaces that harm.   

In doing so, these leaders have developed coalitions, training practices, and healing frameworks that ask urgent questions: How do we centre the spiritual self in our care for others? How can we design intake and service processes that recognise the role of faith in shaping trauma? What does it look like to be both faith-literate and trauma-informed? I have seen these leaders reshape spiritual spaces in ways that redefine what faith means and what safety can be. At the SVRI’s Faith & GBV CoP, we are building evidence to address these very questions. We are working across continents to centre decolonial approaches, elevate survivor knowledge, and promote cross-sector collaboration grounded in dignity. 

Faith communities hold immense power to influence norms, provide care, and transform systems. Supporting the needs of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugee survivors means engaging religion not just as a belief system but also as a social force — one that must be interrogated, reimagined, and mobilised for a world free from violence.

References

[1] Tan, S. E., & Kuschminder, K. (2022). Migrant experiences of sexual and gender-based violence: A critical interpretative synthesis. Globalisation and Health, 18(1), 68. 

[2] UNHCR. (2024, November 29). UNHCR warns of devastating spike in risk of gender-based violence for women and girls forced to flee [Press briefing]. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 

[3] Pew Research Centre. (2024, August 19). The religious composition of the world’s migrants. 

[4] Pertek, S. I. (2022). “God helped us”: Resilience, religion and experiences of gender-based violence and trafficking among African forced migrant women. Social Sciences, 11(5), 201. 

[5] Pertek, S. (2025). Integrating faith sensitivity into gender-based violence (GBV) work (Learning Network Brief No. 45). Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children. 

[6] Istratii, R., Ali, P., & Feder, G. (2024). Integration of religious beliefs and faith-based resources in domestic violence services to migrant and ethnic minority communities: A scoping review. Violence: An International Journal, 5(1), 94–122. 

About the author

Dr. Nana Afua Y. Brantuo, founder of Strategic Praxis Advisory, is a Black transnational feminist scholar, advocate, and strategist. She proudly serves as advisor to the Black Feminist Eco-Lab and as Board Chair for The Person Center, a nonprofit that serves and supports African immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in Washington DC.