FRAMING 'VULNERABILITY' AS AN EXCLUSIONARY TOOL IN PROVIDING PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES. The case of the Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF) for Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Starting from the study of existing literature on the topic, the thesis elaborates on the concept of 'vulnerability'. After analyzing how such concept emerged and evolved in the legal-philosophical reflection, its main understandings in the field of social sciences are presented. A particular focus on the interrelatedness between 'autonomy' and 'vulnerability' in what is formulated as a model of mutual recognition underlines how 'vulnerability' is basically a relational concept and the potential role it could play in the construction of social justice and protection of rights when turned into a heuristic tool. However, it is in such process that a paradoxical risk emerges: that of making a use of 'vulnerability' as a discriminatory and exclusionary standard. Against this background, the Vulnerability Assessment Framework (VAF) is put under scrutiny, a inter-agency mechanism led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to target assistance for Syrian refugees in Jordan, with the aim to validate a critical appraisal of the use of 'vulnerability' in the context of protection and assistance to asylum seekers and refugees.