Mayrhofer Monika
Department of Applied Sociology of Law and Criminology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
University of Innsbruck, Vienna, Austria.
Int J Semiot Law. 2024;37(1):91-117. doi: 10.1007/s11196-023-10092-1. Epub 2024 Jan 12.
The concept of vulnerability is widely used in human rights policy documents, reports, and case law focusing on the impacts of climate change on human rights. In academic discussions, the concept, however, has also sparked a discussion on its benefits and challenges for the advancement of human rights, especially concerning the principles of equality and non-discrimination. This article aims at contributing to this debate from a frame-analytical perspective. In social sciences, frame-analysis is a form of discourse analysis which focuses on the consequences of different concepts for legal, political, and social discussions and norms. With the example of selected UN documents on different human rights issues in the context of climate change, the article, firstly, analyzes whether and how the concept of vulnerability is defined in the documents and why it is used in the documents. Secondly, it is elaborated to which individuals and groups the concept is applied. Thirdly, it is discussed how vulnerability is conceptualized in relation to or in distinction to the concepts of inequality and discrimination. In a further section it is analyzed what narratives are mobilized by the frame of vulnerability. The article concludes that from a discourse-analytical perspective the frame of vulnerability mobilizes problematic narratives which has gendered and racialized implications for those labeled vulnerable.
脆弱性概念在关注气候变化对人权影响的人权政策文件、报告和判例法中被广泛使用。然而，在学术讨论中，这一概念也引发了关于其对人权进步的益处和挑战的讨论，尤其是在平等和非歧视原则方面。本文旨在从框架分析的角度为这一辩论做出贡献。在社会科学中，框架分析是话语分析的一种形式，它关注不同概念对法律、政治和社会讨论及规范的影响。以联合国关于气候变化背景下不同人权问题的选定文件为例，本文首先分析这些文件中是否以及如何界定脆弱性概念，以及为何在文件中使用这一概念。其次，阐述该概念适用于哪些个人和群体。第三，讨论脆弱性相对于不平等和歧视概念是如何被概念化的，或者与之有何区别。在进一步的部分，分析了脆弱性框架所调动的叙事。文章得出结论，从话语分析的角度来看，脆弱性框架调动了有问题的叙事，这些叙事对被贴上脆弱标签的人具有性别化和种族化的影响。
