The voices of Palestinian women of Syria are often silenced in knowledge produced in humanitarian research and practice. ‘Speaking back’ sessions provide crucial insights into these women’s experiences and their relevance for discussions on rights mobilisation.

Forced migrants are often asked to share parts of their lives with journalists, researchers and humanitarian professionals. Knowledge production is part and parcel of humanitarian practice: humanitarian actors endlessly collect, share and analyse testimonies from marginalised peoples in order to access funding and distribute aid. However, research participants’ wider stories and experiences are often silenced. They are seldom asked to take part in these processes and have little influence over how their words, voices and images are framed. Few researchers have actively engaged in how to empower participants from marginalised communities to act as consultants and experts that inform dialogues on knowledge production about their own communities.