In October 2016, I travelled on two occasions to the Refugee Camp in Calais, known as the ‘Jungle’ with my colleagues. The camp was due to be destroyed imminently in a collaborative effort between the French and British governments. This destruction left thousands of asylum seekers who dreamed of seeking refuge in the United Kingdom homeless and in limbo.
The number included an estimated 2000 children who had fled from persecution, trauma and war from countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. Our business in the Jungle was to advise as many children as possible in order to assist them with a potential relocation to the United Kingdom under s67 of the Immigration Act 2016, also known as the ‘Dubs Amendment’.
My memories of the Jungle are now eight months old and have been somewhat clouded by the harrowing stories of our clients as well as the hundreds of hours put into representing them since our visits.
Last week, however, these memories came flashing back. This saw the substantive hearing of the Help Refugees judicial review in the Administrative Court, which we attended as part of our hope to finally help our child clients achieve their dream of transfer to the United Kingdom; the promulgation of M, (a Child), R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, in which the President of the Upper Tribunal, Mr Justice McCloskey, granted the judicial review applications of 7 children who previously resided in the Jungle, reuniting them with their families in their United Kingdom; and, perhaps most pertinently, the premiere of journalist and professor Sue Clayton’s harrowing documentary, ‘Calais: A Case to Answer’.
The documentary represents the last 8 months of Sue Clayton’s life, in which she dedicated herself to reporting on the shocking events leading up to the closure of the Jungle and the aftermath. Clayton spent weeks in Calais meeting with children, taking the time to listen to them, helping them find legal representation; very much unlike the French and British authorities. After the destruction of the camp, Clayton spent time travelling around France, in an attempt to maintain contact with these children. They had initially been dispersed around the country to reception centres and when they finally fled these centres, dejected, they returned to make-shift camps close the Channel.
Clayton’s documentary also covers the work of our team in the Jungle. Watching it, memories came flooding back:
I wanted to write this article to give my story as a lawyer who tried his hardest to help the most vulnerable group in the world, unaccompanied asylum seeking children. It was difficult to write and the events of the past 8 months have had a significant impact on me.
The main emotion that I feel is shame, shame that my country had the opportunity to make a difference to this vulnerable group, but instead lured them away from the Jungle under the false hope that they were being temporarily accommodated before being transferred to the United Kingdom. They brutally refused these children and left them in a far worse state than before, liable to trafficking and further exploitation and willing once again to risk their lives to make it to the United Kingdom.
I hope that many others have the opportunity to watch Sue Clayton’s documentary and have a sense about the tragic story of The Jungle and what happened after its closure.
Sue Clayton’s documentary, ‘Calais: A Case to Answer’ is currently screening throughout the country.
Our litigation, ‘ZS v Secretary of State for the Home Department’ remains outstanding and waiting for hearing in the Administrative Court.
Jamie Bell, the author, is a Trainee Solicitor in the Public Law and Immigration Department, he has significant experience dealing with vulnerable clients including those in detention, those suffering from complex psychological issues and victims of torture and trafficking. He has been particularly successful challenging the detention of vulnerable clients, leading to grants of out of hours’ injunctions preventing their deportation.
Duncan Lewis Immigration Department
Duncan Lewis' Immigration team holds exclusive legal aid contracts to represent vulnerable clients/ victim of torture or trafficking in immigration detention related matters; detained asylum casework and unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The department holds a niche practice representing judicial review immigration claimant cases before the High Court with a significant practice in Upper Tribunal and Court of Appeal appellant cases, unlawful immigration detention cases with high net claims for damages and challenging immigration removal cases; in particular, Dublin II third country removal cases. Duncan Lewis has lodged more immigration judicial review proceedings in 2016 than any other immigration legal team in the UK.
For all immigration related inquiries please contact our team of expert solicitors on 0333 772 0409.