What are Dublin III and the Dubs amendment, and why are they important in Calais? Thousands of refugees have arrived in Calais since the refugee crisis hit the headlines last year. Between July and August 2016, over 2,000 new residents arrived at the so-called ‘Jungle’ camp, and in September, some estimates suggested that the population exceeded 10,000. Alarmingly, of the 1,179 children living in the ‘Jungle’, 1,022 – nearly 90 per cent of the total – are alone. The youngest child is just eight years old (Help Photo © Abbie T 1 Refugees, 19 September 2016 ). rayler -Smith/Panos Pictur es There are few child protection measures in Dublin III states that asylum seekers with family the ‘Jungle’. Children as young as eight or nine members already under international protection, live alongside adults, in tents providing scant or in the process of seeking asylum, have shelter from the elements.They rely upon the right to be transferred to join their family charities to provide food, water, sanitation and members and claim asylum in the same country. education, and with no accompanying adults In August 2016, Safe Passage UK counted looking out for them. They are at ever-present more than 170 unaccompanied children in the risk of abuse, exploitation and even trafficking. ‘Jungle’ with a legal right to join family members Many are struggling psychologically with the already in the UK, where ‘family members’ under trauma they have been through along their Article 8 of the regulations includes parents or journeys. They also face the threat of eviction legal guardians, siblings, aunts and uncles or from the French authorities planning to shut grandparents. Under Article 17, the ‘discretionary the camp. clause’ can also be used to request transfers What makes their situation all the more to live with other family members, if the asylum frustrating is that many of these children have seeker can be shown to be especially vulnerable a legal right to be in the UK. Under EU law, the and in particular need – as all unaccompanied Dublin III regulation is designed to protect the children are. internationally recognised right to an intact Further, the so-called ‘Dubs Amendment’ to the family unit – ‘an essential right of the refugee’ UK immigration bill, led by Lord Alf Dubs, saw (Final Conference of Plenipotentiaries at the the British government legislate to offer safe 1951 Convention). refuge in the UK to unaccompanied children if No place for children 2