Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

The Blog gives insight into the research process, shares new publications and delivers results of the research project “The Concept of Vulnerability in the Context of Human Rights” .

About the Blog

Origin of the Blog

This blog is part of the research project “The Concept of Vulnerability in the Context of Human Rights” funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (P32130-G31). The project set out to analyse the concept of vulnerability and its relationship with human rights, in particular the right to equality and non-discrimination. In the course of the project, case studies in three thematic areas will be carried out:

  • asylum law
  • environment/climate change-related mobility
  • equality and discrimination

Results of the research are disseminated not only through journal articles and conference papers. Short texts on our research experiences and on analyses and discussions in the context of our research will be published also in this blog.

Aim of the Blog

The aim of this blog is to give insight into our research process, motivations and questions that arise in our research, to disseminate news about our research progress, draw attention to new documents or new literature published on our research topics and publish first (interim) results of our research.

Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Vulnerability in the context of human rights – Policy brief

Four and a half years ago, the research project ‘Vulnerability in the context of human rights’ set out to explore the usage of the concept of vulnerability in the context of human rights and to analyse the relationship of the concept to the rights of equality and non-discrimination. As one of several outputs of the project we would like to present a policy brief, which contains the main important starting points and objectives of the research and gives an overview of the main conclusions of the project. Most importantly, the policy brief presents recommendations for policy makers, activists, researchers, lawyers or other legal practitioners we developed on basis of our research.

To the Article

Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Refugee status determination in Austria: The Vulnerability of Single Women

Vulnerability is a contested concept. As part of our asylum case study in the project Vulnerability in the Context of Human Rights, we screened and analysed decisions of Austrian courts on international protection with regard to the role of vulnerability in the legal reasonings. The sample analysed consisted of 394 decisions of the appellate court in the asylum procedure, the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG), in which vulnerability featured expressly in the legal reasoning. In addition, relevant jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court (VfGH) and Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) was taken into account.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Presenting a paper on ‘Vulnerability in the real risk assessment under Article 3 ECHR’ at the 7th Refugee Law Initiative Conference in London on 23 June 2023

On 23 June 2023, Margit Ammer and Monika Mayrhofer presented a paper on ‘Vulnerability in the Real Risk Assessment under Article 3 ECHR/Qualification Criteria of Subsidiary Protection: A contribution to more fairness and equality in decisions on international protection? An Austrian Case Study’ at the 7th Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) Conference in London. The presentation gave insights in first results of a case study which was conducted in the framework of the research project ‘The concept of vulnerability in the context of human rights’ (P 32130-G31) funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). As the conference focused on the topic of ‘Inequality and Fairness in Refugee Protection’, the presentation elaborated in particular on the questions how the concept of vulnerability is used in the real risk assessment under Article 3 ECHR in Austrian decisions on international protection. Under Austrian asylum law, the real risk of a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights leads to the granting of subsidiary protection. Concludingly it was discussed, whether the application of the concept of vulnerability leads to more fairness and equality.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Presenting Results of Vulnerability Project at International Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS23)

Monika Mayrhofer will present a paper on ‘Vulnerability in the non-refoulement assessment under Article 3 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR): Enhancing or hindering equality in decisions on international protection? An Austrian case study’ at the 15th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS), which will take place at the York University in Toronto/Canada (29-31 May 2023). The paper, which is written and submitted together with Margit Ammer, focuses on the role of the concept of vulnerability in Austrian asylum procedures. The paper is based on the analysis of case law on international protection of the Austrian appellate court containing rich engagement with vulnerability in the legal reasoning. The paper will offer a critical perspective on whether the employment of the vulnerability concept leads to the advancement and better protection of human rights, including whether it advances equality, in particular racial equality, of those who seek asylum in Austria.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Integrating human rights at the UNFCCC: The concept of vulnerability in Nationally Determined Contributions

UN human rights bodies, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Human Rights Council (HRC), have repeatedly emphasised the importance of upholding human rights standards in climate policies and worked towards introducing human rights in climate action. In November 2022, the Toolkit for Practitioners on Integrating Human Rights in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) was published. This document was prepared by the OHCHR together with the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). This blog entry will discuss some observation concerning the use of the concept of vulnerability in this document.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Is there any room for vulnerability in Article 14 cases? The case law of the European Court of Human Rights

The right not to be discriminated in the enjoyment of rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) provided for by Article 14 of the Convention has been subject to continuous and dynamic interpretation by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Mostly this is due to the fact that the prohibition of discrimination is not limited to certain categories but refers to a list of examples, ‘such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status.’ The Court has extended this list by ways of subsuming categories like age, sexual orientation or disability under the term ‘other status’. At the same time, the Court has further elaborated on what the concept of discrimination comprises reflecting also legal developments of the EU and relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Also, the ECtHR has increasingly applied the concept of vulnerability in cases of discrimination, using it as an additional argument in cases of unequal treatment. The Court in such cases seeks to point at situations of disadvantage for whole groups in order to strengthen the case for a finding of discrimination. This practise however, according to our opinion, is not always helpful for the situation of those addressed as it leaves them diagnosed as helpless rather than as rights holders. In this blog entry, I will therefor give a short overview of selected discrimination cases, where vulnerability was applied and try to identify, which difference this made for the findings.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Reflections on deploying the concept of vulnerability in asylum cases

The concept of vulnerability is used widely in the field of asylum. Especially since the ruling of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece (2011), in which the Court described asylum seekers as vulnerable per se, the concept has been used frequently in case law on asylum seekers and refugees. The concept of vulnerability has also found its way into Austrian case law on the qualification criteria for subsidiary protection. While some scholars argue that the employment of the concept of vulnerability leads to more substantive equality and strengthens the rights of asylum seekers, others point to negative side effects. In this blog entry we will offer some reflections on the application of the controversial concept in asylum cases.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Why we are working on the concept of vulnerability in the field of non-discrimination law and policies

Since the coming into force of EU anti-discrimination law beyond gender twenty years ago, research and policy discourse have been characterised by the challenge to on the one hand use social categories, like gender, age, ethnic affiliation, etc. in order to identify discrimination and on the other not to stigmatise those who are categorised. The concept of vulnerability addressing certain categories of people as more in need than others but without the scrutiny of anti-discrimination law has not been applied in the EU’s internal sphere. However, when it comes to EU’s external action, including accession procedures to the EU, the concept is used. In this context, vulnerabilities of some categories of persons are addressed and identified as field of action for the implementation of the principle of non-discrimination. In this blog entry I will explain, why we inter alia decided to dedicate our research to the use of the concept of vulnerability and its relationship to the field of non-discrimination.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Some reflections on the vulnerability concept as used in the UN report “The impacts of climate change on human rights of people in vulnerable situations”

On 6 May 2022, the UN Report of the Secretary-General on The impacts of climate change on the human rights in vulnerable situation was published. The report elaborates on different adverse impacts of climate change on ‘people in vulnerable situations’ and discusses how the rights of ‘persons in vulnerable situations in the context of climate change’ can be promoted and protected. The report also contains conclusions and recommendations. In this blog-entry, we will present some reflections on the document, in particular on how the concept of vulnerability is used and understood.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Publication of journal article “Victims, Security Threats or Agents? – Framing Climate Change-related Mobility in International Human Rights Documents”

Climate change-related human mobility is a contested issue. For over a decade, UN human rights bodies have contributed to international discussions on displacement, migration and other forms of mobility associated with climate change. This article published in the 2020 Winter-edition of the International Journal of Law, Language and Discourse analyses how climate change-related mobility is framed by UN human rights institutions. The findings show that UN human rights bodies primarily rely on a victim/protection-frame, which understands mobile persons in the context of climate change first and foremost as vulnerable victims in need of human rights protection. Please find more about the article in this blog entry with a link to the article.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Publication of the article “The challenges of the concept of vulnerability in the human rights context from a discourse-analytical perspective” in the journal Zeitschrift für Menschenrechte/journal for human rights 2/2020

The article discusses the challenges and implications of the concept of vulnerability using a frame-theoretical approach. It is argued that vulnerability is a problematic concept in the human rights context. It is often associated with specific “social groups” and is involved in reproducing a racial, sexual and in any other form stereotypically marked “Other”. It is a deficit-oriented concept and produces different forms of exclusions.

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Vulnerability und Human Rights Blog

Start of the project “The concept of vulnerability in the context of human rights” (P32130-G31)

On 15 April 2019 the FWF funded research project “The concept of vulnerability in the context of human rights” was officially launched. The starting point of the project was the fact that the three researchers involved in the project, Margit Ammer, Monika Mayrhofer and Katrin Wladasch, observed that the concept of vulnerability started to increasingly show up in all their research fields (asylum law and policies, equality and anti-discrimination and climate change-related mobility). However, they also observed that although the concept was increasingly used, it was hardly ever clearly defined and its relationship to the concepts of equality and anti-discrimination, the two concepts “traditionally” used and comprehensively defined in the human rights context, was seldomly explored. Thus, they decided to make a research project out of it and carry out case studies in the three research fields mentioned above. Please read about the starting points, the objectives and the research questions in this blog entry.

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Contacts

Katrin Wladasch

Head of Programme Line

+43 1 4277-27450 xngeva.jynqnfpu@tze.yot.np.ng

Margit Ammer

Senior Researcher

+43 1 4277-27451 znetvg.nzzre@tze.yot.np.ng