Vulnerabilidad y derechos humanos

Abstract

The topic of vulnerability has increased its visibility in the realm of human rights since the beginning of the new century. In the documentation regarding human rights policy by the European Commission, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights or the legal scholarship on human and fundamental rights, vulnerability has played different roles. The relationship that is therein established between vulnerability and human rights is not clear-cut or unidirectional. It shows some strength points in relation to the struggle against the exclusion of certain groups of people from the protection offered by current human rights mechanisms. On the other hand, there are also darker areas of contestation regarding the capabilities of vulnerability to push human rights instruments and their doctrine into a transformative and inclusive path for those groups so far rendered vulnerable.