Trauma doesn't end when survivors of torture reach UK shores

Despite what we might imagine in the 21st century, the incidence and acceptance of torture is on the rise. Authoritarian regimes around the world use torture to silence people who fight for the basic rights we take for granted every day like going to school or practicing our own religion.

The survivors I see in my examination room at Freedom from Torture come from an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds. Everyday people around the world are tortured for things like attending protests, for the politics they believe in, or simply for who they fall in love with.

Torture leads to long-lasting trauma and symptoms such as chronic physical pain, problems with sleeping, and terrifying flashbacks and panic attacks. In simpler terms, torture has been described as the act of killing a person without them dying.

But for the people who’ve survived unimaginable horrors, fleeing their torturers and arriving in the UK is often not the end of their ordeal. Survivors claiming asylum are often expected to provide “proof” of what happened to them. And for many, this can be a traumatic process.

Freedom from Torture’s Medico-Legal Reports team is an independent expert witness service, documenting clinical evidence of torture for use in survivor’s asylum claims. This work is crucial for survivors of torture to secure their safety in the UK and begin the difficult process of recovering. 

Emmanuel* is a refugee who attended a demonstration to protest the rigging of a recent election in his home country of Cameroon. He was arrested, detained, and severely whipped and beaten. After he finally managed to escape, he fled and arrived in the UK seeking sanctuary. But because of head trauma, memory, and psychological symptoms resulting from the torture he endured, he found it difficult to recall everything that happened to him.

He was told that his story wasn’t credible, and his application was refused by the Home Office.

Emmanuel was already receiving trauma-focused therapy at Freedom from Torture, but his lawyer referred him for a medico-legal report documenting evidence of his torture along with an expert opinion of the physical and psychological findings.

While this process was underway, it was clear that the uncertainty of his immigration status and fear of being deported back to Cameroon, and possibly even back into the hands of his torturers, caused him significant distress.

We documented and assessed Emmanuel’s extensive scarring, and he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. We were able to explain how the impact of torture on Emmanuel had contributed to his varying accounts.

Crucially, we recommended that Emmanuel be treated as a vulnerable witness. At the appeal, the judge gave our report significant weight. Emmanuel’s account of detention and ill treatment was accepted. He was granted refugee protection in the UK and has now started the process of reuniting with his family.

I’ve listened to countless numbers of traumatic testimonies, and have documented injuries ranging from cigarette burns, whippings, and beatings, and the removal of fingernails and sexual violence. Something I’ve come to learn is that to have a breakthrough in therapy, the floor needs to be steady under your feet. You need the security of knowing that you have protection, a roof over your head, and the ability to reconnect with people.

After such a long and intense period of instability and fear, we need these things to be able to recover and, perhaps more importantly, to reignite hope.

Anyone who watches the news every night can see human rights are being eroded globally. And we know that it is always the most vulnerable in our societies who bear the consequences.

Over the years I’ve become intimately aware of the extreme lengths of cruelty that humans are capable of inflicting on one another. But I’ve also been profoundly moved by the ability of survivors to draw a line in the sand and rebuild their lives in ways that would have been considered unimaginable to themselves only a few years earlier.

Freedom from Torture is supporting amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill (currently being debated in the Lords) to challenge attempts to further punish refugees purely for the way they’ve arrived in the UK, often with no other option but to take dangerous and unauthorised routes. We know from the work we do with survivors that doubling down on a punishment and deterrent approach will only put people at risk of more harm.

As we mark the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we extend solidarity to those who have faced the most extreme abuses of power. And in an increasingly fractured world, it is estimated that of those arriving seeking asylum in countries like the UK, one person in three has experienced torture.

Now more than ever the vital services that Freedom from Torture provides are desperately needed. Emmanuel is just one of many hundreds of people that we helped last year, but there are many more survivors in need of support.  

*Name has been changed to protect identity.  

Ali Siddiqi is Lead doctor (London) at Freedom from Torture.

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.