Published Article

Luc Leboeuf, VULNER's scientific coordinator, authored the article 'The Juridification of ‘Vulnerability’ through EU Asylum Law: The Quest for Bridging the Gap between the Law and Asylum Applicants’ Experiences', which belongs to the LAWS Special Issue Vulnerability and the Legal Protection of Migrants: A Critical Look at the Canadian Context.

‘Vulnerability’ is flooding EU asylum law. Based on the analysis of the ECtHR’s case-law in deportation cases, the EU Directives’ provisions towards ‘vulnerable’ asylum applicants, and their implementation in the domestic legislations and practices of two EU member states that were studied as part of the VULNER project (Belgium and Italy), Luc's contribution establishes a typology of the various legal and bureaucratic functions that ‘vulnerability’ has received in the EU. It also reflects on the ‘juridification’ trend at play, the implementation challenges that have emerged as a result, and how they are currently being addressed in the EU.

The Special Issue Vulnerability and the Legal Protection of Migrants: A Critical Look at the Canadian Context, which is co-edited by Delphine Nakache, leader of the Canadian VULNER team, and Anna Purkey, another member the Canadian VULNER team, seeks to contribute to the debate on what ‘vulnerability’ in the context of migration means, by providing a series of papers offering a critical analysis of how ‘vulnerability’ is defined and understood in Canadian law, policy and practice. This special issue is based on the first series of results from the Canadian VULNER research project that is funded by the Canadian Research Council (SSHRC/CRSH) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture (FRQSC) as part of the EU Horizon’s VULNER project.

The full article is available in open access and can be downloaded  here.