{"id":12680,"date":"2026-05-21T09:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/?p=12680"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T17:16:08","slug":"analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Working Paper 30<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em><strong>By <span class=\"fontstyle0\">Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><em><strong><span class=\"fontstyle2\">Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong><span class=\"fontstyle2\"><span class=\"fontstyle0\">Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><em><strong><span class=\"fontstyle2\">Professor at the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) and in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\">Executive Summary<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p3\">\u00a0<span class=\"fontstyle0\">This paper seeks to address how states use \u2018vulnerability\u2019 to select a small percentage of refugees from the millions worldwide for resettlement programs. Across asylum and resettlement contexts, vulnerability functions as a mechanism for categorization and prioritization. In asylum systems, it helps identify individuals requiring procedural accommodation or enhanced protection, whereas in resettlement, it assumes a more consequential role: distinguishing among millions of recognized refugees competing for a limited number of resettlement spaces. However, the very concept that underpins this prioritization, \u201cvulnerability\u201d, remains fluid, contested, and deeply shaped by institutional discretion. While vulnerability is invoked to justify procedural accommodation and enhanced protection, its changing definition and application significantly influence who ultimately gains access to one of the rarest durable solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"fontstyle0\">This study examines how vulnerability is defined and operationalized within UNHCR and Canada\u2019s refugee resettlement system, and the extent to which these definitions reflect evolving policy priorities and discretionary decision-making. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"fontstyle0\">Drawing on legal frameworks, policy instruments, and secondary literature, vulnerability is framed not merely as a humanitarian descriptor but as a governing tool embedded within selection processes. The aim is to clarify how vulnerability functions as both a selection criterion and a site of political interpretation in both UNHCR and Canadian resettlement practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"fontstyle0\">The paper argues that vulnerability operates at the intersection of protection and selectivity. While it enables targeted assistance for those facing acute risk, its ambiguity and discretionary application risk producing \u2018hierarchies of deservingness\u2019 (Reynolds and Hyndman, 2026). Ensuring fairness and coherence in refugee resettlement requires greater transparency and conceptual clarity in how vulnerability is defined, interpreted, and operationalized.<\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\"content-wrapper\">\n\t\n<div class=\"cufile\">\n    <a class=\"cufile__link\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-content\/uploads\/LERRN-Working-Paper-No.-30-Analyzing-Vulnerability-in-Canadian-Refugee-Resettlement-.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\n\n        <svg viewBox=\"0 0 100 100\" class=\"cufile__icon\">\n            <use xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"#document-pdf\"><\/use>\n            <title>View PDF<\/title>\n            <desc>Document type: PDF<\/desc>\n        <\/svg>\n\n        <div class=\"cufile__meta\">\n            <h3 class=\"cufile__title u-hide-in-toc\">LERRN Working Paper No. 30: Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement<\/h3>\n            <p>This study examines how vulnerability is defined and operationalized within UNHCR and Canada\u2019s refugee resettlement system, policy, and practice.<\/p>        <\/div>\n\n    <\/a>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<p><strong>View the full LERRN Working Papers Series here:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"\">\n\t<p>\n\t\t<a class=\"button__red button__red--solid\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/learn-with-lerrn\/publications\/the-lerrn-working-papers-series\/\" target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LERRN Working Paper Series<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><strong>DOI<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>10.22215\/glrnw\/2605001<\/p>\n<p><strong>Citation:<\/strong> Javadi, Z. M., Hyndman, J. (2026). Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement. Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.22215\/glrnw\/2605001<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working Paper 30 By Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0Professor at the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) and in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University\u00a0 Executive Summary \u00a0This paper seeks to address how states use \u2018vulnerability\u2019 to select a small percentage of refugees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[112,453,304,405,1,409,39],"tags":[561],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Working Paper 30 By Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0Professor at the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), feminist foreign policy, Canadian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), female displacement\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"nadiyaismaeva\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/\",\"name\":\"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T13:16:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-21T17:16:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/fc4d286f4b8d2a64f5ebac78aba7c304\"},\"description\":\"Working Paper 30 By Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0Professor at the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), feminist foreign policy, Canadian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), female displacement\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/category\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/\",\"name\":\"LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/fc4d286f4b8d2a64f5ebac78aba7c304\",\"name\":\"nadiyaismaeva\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e6476a43ee039f3c70edd64fbb11d2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e6476a43ee039f3c70edd64fbb11d2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"nadiyaismaeva\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement","description":"Working Paper 30 By Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0Professor at the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), feminist foreign policy, Canadian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), female displacement","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"nadiyaismaeva","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/","name":"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-21T13:16:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-21T17:16:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/fc4d286f4b8d2a64f5ebac78aba7c304"},"description":"Working Paper 30 By Zahra Moshref Javadi,\u00a0Research Associate at The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS), York University Jennifer Hyndman,\u00a0Professor at the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP), feminist foreign policy, Canadian National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), female displacement","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/2026\/analyzing-vulnerability-in-canadian-refugee-resettlement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/category\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Analyzing Vulnerability in Canadian Refugee Resettlement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/","name":"LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/fc4d286f4b8d2a64f5ebac78aba7c304","name":"nadiyaismaeva","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e6476a43ee039f3c70edd64fbb11d2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e6476a43ee039f3c70edd64fbb11d2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"nadiyaismaeva"}}]}},"acf":{"Post Thumbnail Icon":"article-print","Post Thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12680"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12692,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12680\/revisions\/12692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/lerrn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}