VULNERABILITY ON TRIAL: AN EMERGING CONCEPT FOR STRENGTHENING THE PROTECTION OF MIGRANTS IN INTERNATIONAL ADJUDICATION?

Vulnerability is an ethical, philosophical and social concept which has recently gained momentum in migration-related adjudications before international (both regional and universal) monitoring bodies as an autonomous concept. This article, after identifying the legal elements of the notion, gives an account of how the introduction of this new notion paves the way for welcome improvements to the current interpretation of migrants’ human rights under the traditional liberal approach. Thus, it highlights how the use of the argument of vulnerability is bringing a more nuanced approach to the human rights project, insofar as it enables a context-sensitive assessment of violations of rights and ethically strengthens the argument in favour of social justice. In doing so, the article develops the concept of vulnerability as a heuristic device for generating a special regime of protection for migrants that better outlines the corresponding scope of State duties in relation to the protection of human rights