"Victims of Torture"

On Tuesday night I went to a lecture with 2 friends. It was held by Dr Phil Cotton and was called "Victims of Torture." The purpose of the lecture was to raise awareness of the hardships that asylum seekers and refugees face. Before the lecture I was ignorant to the severity of the torture that goes on in the world. I honestly thought these things only happened in horror movies. Although, I am sure some of the things he told us would not even happen in the goriest of Hollywoods films.

I think it is important to point out how inspirational Dr Cotton is. He is a part time GP in Glasgow to provide himself with a salary but the rest of the time he is a volunteer, helping torture victims - 99% of these victims are asylum seekers. Throughout the lecture I found myself horrorfied and sickened by the violation of human rights that these people faced and the fact he had seen people between the age of 8 and 80. I left the lecture with a huge weight on my shoulders so I can not imagine how much effort it must take him to keep his work and personal life apart.

The way these people are treated in their home countries is a disgrace to human civilisation. They are subjected to the most extreme cases of torture so when it is possible, many of them escsape to our country. A country that prides itself on its democracy and justice system. However, this justice system often decides that these people are not allowed to stay in this country due to INCONSISTENCIES in their story. Some of the examples we were given were absolutely shameful.

One story we were told was about an asylum seeker who was given shelter in England. He was given a train ticket and a hotel reservation for Glasow as the next day he had his meeting with Dr Cotton. When he got to the hotel, the receptionist told him that he had no reservation there and to go to the police station. Once he got to the police station a policeman told him that it was not a hotel and turned him away.

This man was in a strange place and had nowhere to go. So he made his way back to the train station, sat on a bench and stayed there overnight, freezing cold and petrified. When he arrived at the meeting the next morning Dr Cotton asked how he was and the man burst into tears and told him of his ordeal. He said he had been made to feel like an animal.

I found it difficult not to cry myself when listening to this story. How could this happen in this country? If I was lost and in a strange place I would certainly expect someone to empathise and help me and I would certainly not expect the Police to send me packing! It turned out that he did have a reservation at the hotel. The receptionist had merely typed in the wrong number AND there were other vacant rooms in the hotel that she could have given him.

He was not a bad person, in fact, he was a human rights lawyer in his old country. Ironically, he had wanted to make the world a better place. Instead, he was a victim of a corrupt government. Dr Cotton furiously complained to the hotel and the manageress was truely sorry and wrote him a handwritten letter of apology which, the man accepted.

I am not trying to say that people in Britain are that uncaring and unkind. Although I do know from personal experiance that not many people are willing to stop to help someone. The main point I took from Dr Cottons lecture was to take the time to stop and help someone if they look scared or need help. People need to remeber that everyone has feelings and sometimes people just need a shoulder to cry on or a little bit of friendly advice. It also made me completely change my opinion on immigration as it was the first time I had been told about the reasons that many people come to this country, instead of getting the usual negative slant from the media.