The potential and pitfalls of the vulnerability concept for human rights

Alexandra Timmer*, Moritz Baumgärtel, Louis Kotzé, Lieneke Slingenberg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In the past decade or so, vulnerability has become a fairly prominent concept in human rights law. It has evolved from being an underlying notion to an explicit concept. This column takes stock of vulnerability's relationship to, and possible influence on human rights law, assessing the concept's potential and pitfalls. It focuses on the not altogether unrelated issues of migrants’ social rights and on the role of human rights in environmental protection. The discussion commences with a reflection on the potential of vulnerability to re-interrogate those aspects of the human rights paradigm that relate to environmental protection. The next section focuses on the potential of vulnerability to enhance migrants’ social rights within human rights law. Subsequently, it focuses on the pitfalls and the difficulties of the vulnerability concept. It concludes by offering an outlook for the future of the concept.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)190-197
Number of pages8
JournalNetherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
Volume39
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • discourse
  • environmental protection
  • legal concepts
  • migrants’ rights
  • Vulnerability

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