LAST week I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Eric Nnanna, the father of Mercy Baguma's little boy.

Mercy's sudden death in a flat in Govan made headlines around the UK and beyond because it was believed she had starved.

The confusion seemed to have come from the - correct - statement that little Adriel, just 16-months-old, had starved.

He had been in the flat for up to four days without food and water so, of course, he was malnourished when his father finally found him.

There was horror that a third tragedy involving Glasgow's asylum seeking community could have happened in such a short space of time and hundreds of people came forward to donate money to help this little boy.

There is always an outpouring of rage and grief when a striking and brutal story such as this makes headlines.

But each time something goes wrong we find out about yet another cruelty that strips people of their dignity and personhood.

Eric told me that he had initially thought Mercy was to move to new accommodation on the Wednesday of the week she died.

He is adamant that Mears, the company tasked with providing accommodation for Glasgow's asylum seekers and refugees, was to come that day and take Mercy, who came to the UK from Uganda, and Adriel to a Mears flat.

Mears and the Home Office will not comment on the situation and say Mercy was not a Mears client.

But Mercy was not told her new address in advance.

The charity Positive Action on Housing says this is standard practice by the Home Office.

Those moving home do not find out where they are going until they get there.

This is no small thing.

If Mercy had know where she was going she would have shared her address with friends and Eric.

Eric, when unable to contact Mercy by phone or on Facebook, would have gone round to her new flat to check on her.

It is, then, possible, that even if his mother still could not have been saved, Adriel might have been found sooner. and not suffered the trauma of days alone, crying with no one to comfort him.

Eric, supported by Positive Action in Housing, wants answers as to what happened over those few days and answers as to the issue with the flat move.

But the striking thing here is the expectation of not being given such an important piece of information in advance.

Any of us would expect to have important information about our own circumstances given to us freely.

We would expect to be treated with respect.

But this is just another example of a system designed to be as hostile as possible to asylum seekers and refugees.

It adds to larger legislative issues, such as the fact asylum seekers might only work in very limited circumstances.

Mercy's immigration status had changed and so she had to leave her job where she worked hard and paid her taxes.

Eric has a Masters degree in Petroleum Engineering from a Scottish university and yet, instead of using his skills, the system has left him in limbo.

When you want to work and contribute to a country you hope to make your home, it is damaging to your mental and physical health to not be allowed to do so.

And it seems counterproductive, as a country, to have willing workers who must stay idle and not participate fully in society.

Mercy, though, continued to volunteer even though she couldn't work for money - a real marker of the woman she was.

Mercy, though, is not the only tragedy this year. In May, a Syrian refugee, Adnan Walid Elbi, was found dead at the McLays Guest House, in Glasgow city centre.

Then in June, Badreddin Abdalla Adam, a Sudanese asylum seeker, was shot dead by Police Scotland after stabbing six people at a hotel in the city centre.

Both men had been moved into hotels at the start of lockdown along with hundreds of other people seeking asylum.

The situation in the hotels was not easy - there wasn't enough food, and not of good quality; residents did not have enough money to top up phones or buy extra supplies; the situation was described as deplorable.

Mercy's story should make us think about how we all have a duty to press for a system that gives dignity and respect to refugees.

We have a Conservative government that is trying to fearmonger - using phrases such as "migrant invasion" and promising to crack down on small boats sailing to Dover from Calais by using military might.

A civilised society should do its part to welcome and protect refugees and asylum seekers.

The indignities built into the system and allowed to go unchallenged and unchecked are a shame on the UK and we must speak out against them.