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Legal challenge to cap on Dubs child refugee scheme fails Legal challenge to cap on Dubs child refugee scheme fails
(about 3 hours later)
Campaigners have lost a high court challenge against the government over the number of unaccompanied child refugees accepted into the UK under the Dubs scheme. Refugee campaigners have said they will appeal after losing a high court challenge against the government over the number of unaccompanied child refugees given sanctuary in the UK.
The charity Help Refugees claimed the consultation process by which home secretary, Amber Rudd, calculated that only 480 should be accepted was “fundamentally flawed”. The Help Refugees charity brought a case against the government claiming that the process by which ministers agreed to give homes to just 480 lone child refugees was “fundamentally flawed”.
It had sought court orders to force her to abandon the cap and reopen the consultation process so consideration could be given to allowing more children in. Government lawyers contested the case, arguing that there was no illegality. So far only 200 lone asylum-seeking children have been housed in the UK under the Dubs scheme, which campaigners had hoped would bring 3,000 minors to the UK, a figure calculated to be the UK’s fair share of those who had fled conflict and were seeking sanctuary in Europe. A further 280 allocated places remain unfilled.
In a ruling given in London on Thursday, two judges dismissed an application for judicial review by the charity. The case centred on whether or not there had been adequate consultation with local authorities about the number of children they felt they could accommodate, and on whether the Home Office had failed to move with the “necessary speed” to relocate children to the UK.
Help Refugees said afterwards that it had lodged an application for permission to appeal against the ruling by Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Ouseley. Two judges dismissed an application for a judicial review in a ruling handed down on Thursday. “There is nothing in this which can show that the consultation process or the consideration of the results was unlawful,” they said.
Rosa Curling, from the human rights team at the law firm Leigh Day, which represents Help Refugees, said: “This litigation has already brought about very significant advances – 130 extra places for vulnerable children were added as the direct result of this litigation. Alf Dubs, the Labour and peer who forced the government to create the scheme last year, said he was very disappointed by the decision.
“The government was also forced to accept that the children to be transferred under the Dubs amendment were additional to the children the government already had to transfer under EU law. Lord Dubs, who as a child arrived in Britain on one of the Kindertransport trains, said: “I am puzzled by the decision. I have spoken to heads of many local authorities who are ready to give more places for child refugees.”
“Our clients continue to believe that the way in which the Dub amendment has been implemented is seriously defective. We have sought permission to appeal.” There are about 200 child refugees in Calais, many of whom may be eligible for transfer to the UK. Since the demolition last year of the camp that was home to 10,000 migrants, local police have been removing tents and any semi-permanent shelters, forcing refugees in the area to live in bushes and woodland on the outskirts of the port, with no shelter, water, sanitation or regular access to food.
Josie Naughton, founder and chief executive officer of Help Refugees, said: “We are bitterly disappointed by this result but also very proud of what our litigation has already achieved. At the time our litigation was issued, not a single child had been transferred to the UK under the Dubs amendment. “The longer they wait the more depressing it gets for them, and the more likely they are to take matters into their own hands, and try to get on to lorries,” Dubs said.
“Transfers began under the pressure of this litigation and under the pressure from campaigners and parliamentarians. We’ve unearthed 130 extra places, which the government eventually admitted it had overlooked. These places for children are needed now more than ever. At least four children were killed last year on the roads around Calais as they tried to make their way illegally into the UK.
“There are young unaccompanied children sleeping rough in Europe completely unprepared for the coming winter. We intend to appeal.” Josie Naughton, founder and chief executive of Help Refugees, said: “We are bitterly disappointed by this result but also very proud of what our litigation has already achieved.
The judges announced: “Overall, having considered the criticisms made as to the requirements for a fair consultation we are not persuaded that the claimant’s case is made out.” “At the time our litigation was issued, not a single child had been transferred to the UK under the Dubs amendment. Transfers began under the pressure of this litigation and under the pressure from campaigners and parliamentarians.
During a hearing in June they were told that local authorities were meant – under what is known as the Dubs amendment – to let the Home Office know which areas of the country were ready to take unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. “We’ve unearthed 130 extra places, which the government eventually admitted it had overlooked. These places for children are needed now more than ever. There are young unaccompanied children sleeping rough in Europe completely unprepared for the coming winter. We intend to appeal.”
But the charity claimed there was a government failure to carry out a full UK-wide consultation. A Home Office spokesperson said: “This judgment has confirmed that the consultation conducted last year on the Dubs amendment and its implementation was lawful. We remain committed to transferring 480 children from Europe to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act.
The Dubs amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act, from May last year, required the Home Secretary to make arrangements to relocate “a specified number” of vulnerable refugee children from Europe based on feedback from local authorities. “We have accepted further referrals this year and transfers are ongoing. We will continue to work closely with EU partners and local authorities to transfer eligible children here quickly and safely.”
Lord Dubs, a Labour peer and architect of the Dubs amendment, who came to the UK as a refugee from the Nazis, has urged ministers to reconsult local authorities, saying that many confused by the process have since “expressed a willingness to take more child refugees”.
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green party, said: “This ruling is bitterly disappointing, but it does not stop the government reconsulting with local authorities.
“We could still take in more child refugees who are at great risk of abuse and trafficking and I urge ministers to do so immediately.”