Denise Venturi (KU Leuven), 'Asylum, sexual orientation and gender identity: unlocking fairer assessment through vulnerability and intersectionality'

Empirical Legal Research Network work-in-progress seminars

Denise Venturi 

PhD Candidate in Law, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium  

Vulnerability has gained momentum in the human rights field, particularly in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. In asylum law and policy, vulnerability has been increasingly used to design and shape responses, on the consideration that some asylum-seekers are more vulnerable than others and thus entitled to enhanced care. At the same time resorting to ‘vulnerability’ may risk creating a ‘catch-all’ clause whose meaning remains fuzzy and dependent on the interpreter’s ability to operationalize it. It may also perpetuate stigmatization and deprive asylum-seekers of their agency.

This doctoral research aims to examine what, if any, is the added value of ‘vulnerability’ when used with regard to asylum-seekers. Is vulnerability only a ‘jargon of sympathy’ or can it be a framework to achieve asylum procedures that are better equipped to deal with and respond to asylum-seekers’ needs? The project aims to examine this question focusing on the specific case of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) asylum-seekers, and notably the procedure for determining their eligibility for refugee status in the EU. It adopts an empirical-legal approach, combining legislation and case law analysis with semi-structured interviews with asylum-seekers, decision-makers and support staff as well as case studies from the practice.

The project tackles the research question within the theoretical framework of Martha Fineman’s universal vulnerability theory. It also resorts to the concept of “situated intersectionality” (By Yuval-Davis), as a way to possibly unpack vulnerability and shed a light on power structures and dynamics.

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