Baron Dubs was born in 1932 in Prague into a Jewish family. At the age of six in 1939, he left Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia for London on a train organized by Sir. Nicholas Winton. Baron Dubs became one of 669 children whom Sir Winton saved from almost certain death, and that are nowadays referred to as "Winton's children".

Baron Dubs was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 1979, where he served until 1987. In 1994, he was granted the title of "Baron Dubs of Battersea" and became a lifelong peer. Baron Dubs has long been involved in the topic of migration, especially the issue of child refugees.