To detain or not to detain? A vulnerability perspective on the detention of migrants for the purpose of removal from the European Union

Abstract

Vulnerable migrants are detained in the European Union for the purpose of removal, despite human-rights standards cautioning against such practices. This thesis examines the role of vulnerability in EU return detention policy and assesses whether, and how, vulnerability can serve as a meaningful normative tool to improve the situation of migrants subjected to return procedures. By examining how vulnerability is conceptualised and operationalised, this work identifies significant shortcomings in the EU return detention framework. In pursuing this analysis, the thesis seeks to fill a research gap and to advocate for an overlooked group in a precarious position: vulnerable migrants who face detention for the purpose of their removal from the EU. To that end, the study adopts a vulnerability-based perspective and draws on research concerning the lived experiences of migrants subjected to return detention. On this basis, the thesis demonstrates that the EU return framework fails to protect vulnerable migrants from return detention and fails to ensure adequate care for them within detention. The thesis proves that the role of 'vulnerability' in EU return detention policy is best characterised as performative; and that vulnerability has significant potential as a normative tool for improvement. However, the problem is not how to translate the potential of vulnerability into binding, operational, and enforceable legal standards at EU level. The problem is the EU’s unwillingness to do it.