When we visited the Calais Jungle one year ago we were horrified by the appalling conditions. Worse still was learning that many of the unaccompanied children were only there risking their lives because they were trying to reach their families here in the UK.

These children had a full legal right to reach their families and should have been able to do so under the terms of the Dublin III regulation and so we began working in good faith, case by case by case over the months trying to help them, and others right across Europe, to navigate the long, bureaucratic process and reach their loved ones. 

At the end of all that only 100 children or so have been reunited to date, while hundreds more completely eligible children are left at risk across Europe and in the Calais Jungle which is immanently threatened with demolition. 

Making this international system work should never have fallen to us. Citizens UK is a community organising network of churches, schools, mosques and colleges. We have reluctantly brought this case now in order to protect children in Calais in the run up to the demolition and to finally force the British government to live up to its responsibilities to make the Dublin III system work.

3 children, eligible for transfer, have died in Calais trying to reach their families in the last 9 months. Hundreds remain at risk. No more children should be left with the terrible choice of train tracks and suffocating lorries on the one hand, people traffickers on the other.

Winning this case will mean safe and legal passage is granted to hundreds of refugee children seeking to reach their loved ones in Britain. We need your help to raise £10,000 to get this claim to court, and £40,000 to see it through. (If Citizens UK raises more funds than are needed for the Court case ( or if it settles) the excess monies will be spent helping refugees fleeing conflict and seeking a home (whether legal, financial, pastoral, medical) to include general support and running costs. There is a small chance that we will raise more money than is needed. If this happens, we'll spend any additional funds on other Citizens UK projects – wherever the need is greatest.)

We have the very best legal team, with Islington Law Centre's immigration specialists and counsel from Doughty Street Chambers and Blackstone Chambers. Please help us give these children a chance.