Especially Vulnerable Subjects and Categories in the Context of European Migration: Theoretical Regulatory Challenges

Abstract

While vulnerability and migration are boundary concepts, they have been employed as if they were somewhat neutral and univocal. Based on the umbrella theory of the vulnerability turn, the specialist doctrine has focused its critical analyses on the legal-political dimensions of the different vulnerable subjects and groups. However, migrant vulnerability has a unique impact on the regulatory field of asylum, especially given its ambiguity and lack of legislative harmonisation across EU Member States. A review of the mechanisms for identifying and protecting migrant vulnerability can provide regulatory evidence regarding the different phases of the Common European Asylum System, which in turn can lead to proposals for its reform. This study will analyse the complex and questionable use of the category of ‘vulnerable migrant’ in the main international instruments of legal protection when applied to asylum seekers. It will then present a critical comparative analysis of the national and EU asylum framework.