This Guide is for survivors of sexual violence and was co-created with survivors. It started with a survivor asking the question, “why is all the guidance and advice for the people who come seeking our information, and why isn’t there any guidance for us to help us respond to their requests?”

If you are a survivor of sexual violence, people may come to you seeking information about what happened to you. They may do so for different reasons, such as to raise awareness about what is happening, to use the information in criminal or other legal proceedings, to increase understanding through research, or to advocate for justice and human rights. People seeking information from you should follow professional standards. However, it is helpful for survivors to know what these standards are and how to check if someone seeking their information is following them, to keep themselves safe and in control and to ask that their rights are respected and upheld.

This Guide is to help you find support, make choices and decisions, find the path that is right for you, and to recognise and assert your rights along the way. It is based on the Murad Code and the Survivor Perspectives Resource – two parts of the wider Murad Code project, which aims to promote survivors’ rights when people want to collect and use information about sexual violence from, or about, survivors.