Vulnerability on Trial: Protection of Migrant Children’s Rights in the Jurisprudence of International Human Rights Courts
View/ Open
Beduschi Final PDF.pdf (491.1Kb)
Date
2018-02Author
Beduschi, AC
Date issued
2018-02
Journal
Boston University International Law Journal
Type
Article
Language
en
Publisher
Boston University
Abstract
Although vulnerability does not have an express legal basis in international human rights law, international human rights courts, and particularly the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), have increasingly drawn on this concept in their jurisprudence. The ECtHR has developed an important line of cases concerning migrant children, which it considers as particularly vulnerable to physical and mental harm during the migratory process. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) also anchored this notion in an influential advisory opinion on the rights of migrant children. This article critically examines this case-law against the existing scholarship on vulnerability and the legal framework on human rights protection. It argues that the concept of vulnerability, when complemented by considerations of best interests of the child, can operate as a magnifying glass for State obligations, exposing a greater duty of protection and care vis-à-vis migrant children. It suggests that the human rights courts should deploy a more substantial approach to migrant children’s rights based on the concept of vulnerability and on the principle of best interests of the child. Above all, this approach would foster stronger protection of these children’s rights in the long term. In addition, if effectively applied, it would allow the human rights courts to avoid stigmatising the most exposed individuals in the ongoing global migration crisis.
Description
This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the link in this record.
Citation
Vol. 36 (1), pp. 55-85
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Right cot, right place, right time: improving the design and organisation of neonatal care networks
Allen, Michael; Spencer, Anne; Gibson, A; Matthews, Justin; Allwood, Alex; Prosser, Sue; Pitt, M (National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), 2015-05-01)Background: There is a tension in many health-care services between the expertise and efficiency that comes with centralising services and the ease of access for patients. Neonatal care is further complicated by the ... -
Rights and corporate social responsibility: competing or complementary approaches to poverty reduction and socioeconomic rights?
Osuji, Onyeka K.; Obibuaku, Ugochukwu L. (Springer, 2014-12-27)The link between socio-economic rights and poverty has generated two broadly parallel approaches: rights-based and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In exploring how legally propped CSR arrangements can support poverty ... -
Vulnerability on trial: human rights courts approaches to the protection of migrant children’s rights
Beduschi, AC (2017)Although vulnerability does not have an express legal basis in international human rights law, human rights courts, and particularly the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), have increasingly drawn on this concept in ...