Special Interest Group

Human Rights and Social Work

Brief presentation of the field of interest

Social work in the 21st century goes hand in hand with human rights. Human rights and social justice are the overarching, universal principle of the social work profession and discipline. Social work is a human rights profession, as the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) has already proclaimed in the 1980ies. For example, the centrality of human rights in social work is manifested in the IFSW and International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) Global Definition of Social Work (2014), and the complementary documents: the Global Social Work Statement of Ethical Principles and the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. Based on these international guidelines, many national social work codes of ethics emphasize human rights as the foundation of social work. Likewise, the revised Global Standards for Social Work Teaching and Training (2020) highlight the crucial role of human rights.

The key role of human rights in social work has a long tradition that traces back to the roots of professional social work at the start of the 20th century. It is a milestone that has a long way since its beginning - which is evident in the developments of the United Nations´ human rights system that concretizes the social work and human rights nexus. Today, social work scholars from around the world commit to the promotion of human rights in reference to certain vulnerable groups such as children and in their purpose such as the eradication of poverty. In this sense, social workers position themselves as defenders of human rights and advocates for the rights of the social citizens/clients that they engage with. However, as the same time social workers are perpetrators of human rights violations when carrying out their tasks in unjust political systems or services. It is at the core of the idea of social work as a human rights profession that all social workers need to critically reflect on their potential involvement or contribution to human rights violations. Especially as social workers often address people in vulnerable situations that are more likely to be affected by discrimination and other human rights violations. The diverse, and at times contested roles, social workers take on, make human rights education in social work a top priority. Thus, human rights are the fundamental ethical basis for the self-appointed third mandate of professional social work. A term coined by Silvia Staub-Bernasconi (2016). This professional mandate can contrast with the mandates given by the state or public institutions, which could lead to ethical dilemmas for social workers in their everyday practice. Human rights are an ethical and normative framework to assist social workers in difficult situations, and in instances when they are confronted with opposing mandates. Human rights can be applied as analytical tools and to address conflicting interests of the state and the social citizens/clients that they work with, i.e., offer recourse to empower social workers and their clients. Implementing a human rights perspective to social work leads inevitable to a structural perspective promoting social change on a global scale by directing social workers toward structural problems instead of personification of social problems or demonizing clients for alleged “deviant behavior”.

As researchers examining human rights education in different countries have shown, human rights play an important role in social work education. However, human rights are not systemically integrated in social work education yet and discussions around how to incorporate human rights in social work curricula. The UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training defines Human Rights Education (HRE) as education about (human rights knowledge and values), through (educational settings that respect the rights of educators and learners) and for human rights (empowering persons to exercise their rights and to respect and uphold the rights of others). This model can provide helpful perspectives on how to systemically implement HRE in social work schools, not only focusing on the improvement of knowledge transfer and critical thinking but also turning social work schools into more inclusive non-discriminatory, participatory spaces as well as operationalizing human rights as a point of reference for social work practice. Especially the question of how to transfer knowledge on human rights to social work practice and so to real-life social problems remains mainly unanswered so far. Accordingly, from the perspective of schools of social work, the question of how to systematize existing models for the implementation of human rights in social work education is key. Human rights require interdisciplinary collaboration and skills to strengthen and embed human rights in social work education.

The ways this interest will be developed

The primary aim of the EASSW SIG is to strengthen European-wide collaborations between social work scholars engaged (or interested in) HRE in social work. The objective is to share knowledge, empower each other, to promote and improve human rights teaching in social work. This is key to the advancement of a network to support human rights-based social work. The SIG is directed towards social work educators and students, researchers and potentially practitioners. The SIG aims to assess how human rights are understood and the didactic approaches used in human rights education in social work in Europe. The work of the group includes the assessment of the current situation and promotion of the comprehensive and consistent integration of human rights in social work transnationally. The overarching goal is the promotion of a human rights culture in schools of social work and contribute toward the full realization of human rights.

Plan of activities

The SIG will hold regular online meetings and joint events, such as workshops at European social work conferences. Further planned activities

• Develop a database of existing approaches used in human rights education in social work that include research and practice concepts pertaining to the nexus of human rights and social work,
• Strengthen joint teaching through exchanges and the development of joint courses,
• Promote cross disciplinary collaboration, engagement with civil society and social citizen/clients of social work and social service organisations. 

Contact

Ingo Stamm, FH Münster University of Applied Sciences

Alex Klein, Saxion University of Applied Sciences

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Project

Human Rights and Social Work - Critical Approaches for Social Work Education across Europe

Initiated by the SIG Human Rights and Social Work, the project ‘Human Rights and Social Work - Critical Approaches for Social Work Education across Europe’ took place from August 2022 to July 2023. The project was funded by EASSW and included a symposium of the same name in autumn 2022 in Ghent with colleagues from several European countries. The aim was to discuss different perspectives on the link between social work and human rights, the importance of respective national frameworks and implementation in different social work curricula, and the need for a basic framework for this implementation.

Here you can find the report on the project (click!). Besides a brief introduction and summary, the project report includes a description of the embedding of human rights in social work curricula in the participating countries. Based on the project and the report, the article Integrating human rights in social work
education in Europe (click!) was published in the Journal Social Work Education (open access).