Vulnerability and vulneration: street population, an ethical issue

Abstract

This article presents results of qualitative research done with street dwellers in the Federal District in Brazil, in 2009, linking their life conditions to the concept of vulnerability and vulneration, as conceived by bioethics. It describes aspects of this group’s daily life, listing vulnerability’s conditioning factors related to the precariousness of their existence such as hunger, lack of housing and infrastructure, difficulty in obtaining documents, in addition to accentuated susceptibility to violence by State agents, as well as by the population at large. It Concludes that constant exposure to such factors not only makes this group vulnerable, but, in fact, injured, reaffirming the relevance of this concept and encouraging public institutions’ protective measures.