VULNER Blog Series

In this blogpost, Mathilde du Jardin takes a criminological approach towards the EU’s guidelines on the definition and prevention of the facilitation of unauthorized entry, transit and residence, which are outlined in the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum. She reflects on the gap between criminalisation practices and the EU regulatory framework.

In this blog post, Georgina Rodriguez Munoz argues that the Directive 2011/36/EU on human trafficking prioritises security concerns over victim identification. In view of the European Commission's intention to reformulate the current framework, this blogpost makes recommendations on how to establish a new EU-wide victim identification system, including a process that would allow the authorities to detect those who are potentially vulnerable to exploitation, especially in highly sensitive locations, such as refugee camps, border crossing points or asylum centres.

How can the border process foreseen by the EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum guarantee the full and systematic identification of vulnerable asylum seekers, as well as the protection standards set out by the Common European Asylum System? In this blog post, Cécile Pierson explores the likely evolutions of the assessment of vulnerable asylum seekers at the EU external borders.

How to identify situations of abuse of vulnerability, which are constitutive of severe labour exploitation? In this blogpost, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro and Letizia Palumbo call for a situational approach to identify positions of vulnerability. Such an approach shouldn’t be focused on personal characteristics exclusively, but it should also consider the broader social context and gender-based inequalities that should be appraised from an intersectional perspective.

It is not easy to get an overview of the German reception system. There are different types of refugee accommodation centres, which differ in terms of the level of protection of vulnerable residents. This blog post by Jakob Junghans tries to give our English-speaking audience an understanding of the German approach to refugee accommodation.

An autocrat using migrants to blackmail the European Union - the current situation at the EU borders to Belarus is not new. Winfried Kluth suggests a paradigm shift on the question of how the EU and the international community handle migration, with the development of additional legal pathways.

Humanitarian crises can happen anytime at any border. Whereas Europe protects its territory with security forces in heavy armour, more than 11,000 people crossed Uganda’s borders on one day. Sophie Nakueira explains how the country balances the protection of its territorial integrity and of human rights.

The crisis at the border between Poland and Belarus highlights that Europe needs to prepare itself for surges in migration movements. A border screening procedure, as suggested by the European Commission, can be the basis for a systematic framework, thinks Luc Leboeuf, – but he also sees some issues.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there were 26.4 million refugees worldwide in 2020. Further reflection is needed to ensure that on the international, EU and national levels we continue to improve the protections in place for these individuals. In honor of World Refugee Day, Erlend Paasche, VULNER member at the Insitute for Social Research, along with researchers from our sister projects PROTECT and Asile, came together to reflect upon the state of international protection in 2021.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there were 26.4 million refugees worldwide in 2020. Further reflection is needed to ensure that on the international, EU and national levels we continue to improve the protections in place for these individuals. In honor of World Refugee Day, Chaden El Daif, VULNER member at the Centre for Lebanese Studies, along with researchers from our sister projects PROTECT and Asile, came together to reflect upon the state of international protection in 2021.