Dear Colleagues,

“Vulnerability” is a word so widely and frequently used that its meaning is often taken for granted. But what does vulnerability really mean, and why are some people considered vulnerable and others not? Answering these questions is important because the concept of vulnerability draws attention to those persons (or groups of people) who society views as deserving of special care and/or special protection. Thus, how vulnerability is understood and who qualifies as being “vulnerable” (or not) has concrete consequences on peoples’ lives.

One of the most critical and interesting applications of this concept is in the context of migration. The term “vulnerability” is increasingly used as a conceptual tool to guide the design and implementation of law and policy pertaining to migration, despite the absence of any solid understanding of its concrete meanings, practical consequences and legal implications. This reality is illustrated at the global level with the adoption of the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees. The New York Declaration refers to the vulnerabilities of migrants no less than 15 times, while the Global Compact for Migration requires states to consider the specific needs of migrants in a vulnerable position and outlines a number of measures whereby States adopt the moral commitment to respond to the needs of vulnerable migrants by assisting them and protecting their human rights “in accordance with [their obligations] under international law” (Objective 7). Given the lack of conceptualization of “vulnerability”, which has been broadly recognized in the literature1, it has thus become essential to provide a more thorough understanding of the concept’s meaning, practical consequences and legal implications for migrants seeking legal protection in host countries.

With this in mind, this Special Issue seeks to contribute to the debate by providing a series of papers offering a critical analysis of how “vulnerability” is defined and understood in Canadian law, policy and practice in the context of migration. This Special Issue is based upon the first series of results from a Canadian research project funded by the Canadian Research Council SSHRC/CRSH and the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Société et Culture (FRQSC) as part of the VULNER project, an international research initiative which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 870845 (www.vulner.eu) with partners in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, Lebanon, Uganda and South Africa. The Issue will present a selection of articles that examine how the legal and policy instruments, institutions and informal/formal practices of Canada’s protection regime address and/or potentially contribute to the vulnerabilities of people seeking protection. The articles will focus on different dimensions of Canada’s protection regime (in-land claims, overseas claims, human trafficking, irregular migration, etc.) and different types of vulnerabilities (youth/age, gender, sexual orientation, systemic/administrative vulnerabilities, disability, etc.). Although the focus of this Issue will be on the situation in Canada, the observations and conclusions drawn from this research will have relevance to the broader international community, as many of the challenges facing the Canadian system are reflective of common challenges facing migration governance and protection regimes around the world.

Prof. Dr. Anna Purkey
Prof. Dr. Delphine Nakache
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• migration
• vulnerability
• treatment of vulnerable migrants
• asylum application process
• Canadian migration regime
• human trafficking
• discretionary power
• decision-making processes