HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FOR VULNERABLE ASYLUM APPLICANTS

XXIII Human Rights and International Protection for vulnerable asylum applicants: challenges and perspectives Banti-Markouti, V. & Sounoglou, M. (Eds.) Preface Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings without discrimination. The asylum applicants’rights and international protection standards are clearly depicted in the EU law and the national legislation of the EUmember states. The European Court of Human Rights originally used this concept of vulnerable groups in relation to the Roma minority as“a specific type of disadvantaged and vul- nerable minority” in need of special protection. The Court has further expanded the list of vulnerable groups to asylum seekers in M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, App. No. 30696/09, 53 Eur. H.R. Rep. 2, 251 (2011) 1 . Among this broad group there are other subgroups whose specific needs demand higher standards of protection; such as tor- ture victims, unaccompanied minors, victims of trafficking and LGBTI persons. In this book, we trace the characterization and implications of the concept of vulner- able asylum applicants in International, European and national law. Arguing for a re- flective use of group vulnerability, we offer a critical review by reference both to the- ory and research on the protection of vulnerable asylum seekers. We begin by locating the broader theoretical context within which vulnerability has been used as a critical tool and by exploring the links between vulnerability and hu- man rights. Then, we evaluate the protection that the Legal Framework offers for vul- nerable asylum applicants. Also, there is a research part of each article which pres- ent the views of professionals about the implementation of the said procedures. The scope of the book covers both the relevant EU legislation as well as its transposition 1. “…the Court must take into account that the applicant, being an asylum seeker, was particularly vulnerable because of everything he had been through during his migration and the traumatic ex- periences he was likely to have endured previously”. (par. 232) “A member of a particularly underprivileged and vulnerable population group in need of special protection”(par.251) “ Particularly vulnerable in detention and their systematic placement there without being informed of the reasons for their detention”(par.233).