The potential and pitfalls of the vulnerability concept for human rights

Date01 September 2021
DOI10.1177/09240519211048009
Published date01 September 2021
Subject MatterColumn
The potential and pitfalls
of the vulnerability concept
for human rights
Alexandra Timmer
Utrecht University
Moritz Baumgärtel
Utrecht University/University College Roosevelt
Louis Kotzé
North-West University
Lieneke Slingenberg
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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
vulnerabilitys relationship to, and possible inf‌luence on human rights law, assessing the concepts
potential and pitfalls. It focuses on the not altogether unrelated issues of migrantssocial rights and
on the role of human rights in environmental protection. The discussion commences with a ref‌lec-
tion 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 migrantssocial 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.
Keywords
Vulnerability, legal concepts, discourse, environmental protection, migrantsrights
Corresponding author:
Alexandra Timmer, Utrecht University.
E-mail: A.S.H.Timmer@uu.nl
Column
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
2021, Vol. 39(3) 190197
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/09240519211048009
journals.sagepub.com/home/nqh

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