内容摘要：While primarily a computer wholesaler, Griffin Technology operates more like a general retailer on Ozon, selling everything from electronics to toys and cosmetics, according to customs data provided by Import Genius.

While primarily a computer wholesaler, Griffin Technology operates more like a general retailer on Ozon, selling everything from electronics to toys and cosmetics, according to customs data provided by Import Genius.

The then 25-year-old Spanish volunteer arranged housing for refugees in abandoned facilities like schools and libraries, and set up community kitchens, language classes and art activities.“It was kind of a massive cascade of people,” Garcia recalls.

“My own memory of that time is oddly patchy,” he admits. Though there was one encounter that stood out.In one of those schools in Athens’ Exarcheia neighbourhood, where refugees painted the external wall to illustrate their memories of their journeys, Garcia met a Syrian woman in her late 70s.“I’m not afraid of being a refugee. I have lived all my life. I’m happy with what I have lived,” he recalls her telling him. “I’m afraid that my grandkids will be refugees for all their life.”

When he tried to reassure her that they would find a place to start anew, she protested: “No, no, I’m worried, because when my grandkids grow [up] and they ask themselves, ‘Where do I come from?’ they won’t be able to answer that question.”The woman told him how, during the family’s journey to Greece, all but one of their photo albums were lost.

Now, she said, all the memories of their lives in Syria existed only in her and her husband’s minds, unrecorded and unrecoverable for the next generation.

Connecting generationsTorture survivors seeking safety in the UK should not have to worry that the nation’s educational institutions are offering training to the security forces of the very regimes they fled. Universities should be able to provide reassurance to anyone expressing real concern, whether that is those with lived experience of the most terrible abuses of power, or their own students.

In order to do this the university sector must get its house in order. This starts with adopting transparent human rights policies across the sector and undertaking effective due diligence to manage risks to human rights. Failure to take these necessary steps leaves the sector at risk of contributing, however unintentionally, to global human rights violations.Universities must ask themselves: Who is sitting in our classrooms? Who benefits from our training? And what consequences might flow from what we teach? These are amongst the many urgent questions, but not ones the sector appears to be asking.

UK universities must take meaningful steps to ensure they avoid inadvertently sharpening the tools of global repression and move towards building a human rights record they can be proud of. Not only will it appeal to a new generation of activist students, but it’s the right thing to do.*Full details of FfT’s investigation, including responses from universities, can be found