National Association of Social Workers

From the President

Human Rights and Human Needs

By Elvira Craig de Silva, DSW, ACSW

Part of our training as social workers is to look at the totality of any situation and be conscious of the many systems affecting people's lives. With globalization and the continuous growth of technological communications, one could say the overall system is now the world.

As we practice within our own local environments, social workers need to keep abreast of international issues. We in the U.S. are part of the international scene. What happens across the world affects our daily existence, and what we do, say and support has implications that may influence the direction of events.

We cannot ignore what takes place at the international level — particularly occurrences related to human rights — since the practice and teachings of social work must always be conducted within this framework. Nothing could better exemplify this connection than the Annual Social Work Day at the United Nations, held on April 3.

This year's theme was "Human Rights: Addressing Poverty, Violence and Disaster Response." At the gathering of more than 700 social workers, Dr. Shashi Tharoo, under-secretary-general for communications and public information of the U.N., emphasized the commonality of goals and values between the profession of social work and the mandate of the United Nations.

The U.N. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a mandate to protect human rights and fulfill human needs. Two 1966 covenants on human rights — the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — address the right to liberty, education, health and the right to work, protection of the family and an adequate standard of living, respectively.

Millions of people, however, continue to die each year from treatable diseases. Millions more children do not have access to education. More than half a million women die each year from complications brought on by pregnancy and childbirth, and more than 20 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.

Because of our training, education and experience as social workers, we know that a common thread running through each of these human tragedies is poverty and that these statistics can be changed. NASW has therefore become a partner with the ONE Campaign, a worldwide movement to make poverty history.

The ONE Campaign is dedicated to ending extreme poverty and all of the social ills that go with it. Campaign organizers are recruiting individuals and groups to become actively engaged in the effort by supporting the eight U.N. Millennium Goals:

• Eradicate extreme poverty by halving the number of people who suffer from hunger.
• Achieve universal primary education.
• Promote gender equality/empower women.
• Reduce child mortality.
• Improve maternal health.
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases.
• Ensure environmental sustainability.
• Develop a global partnership for development.

These goals are supported by economic research that shows that if we align humanitarian aid with debt relief and promote fair trade, eradicating world poverty is within reach.

Most social workers join the profession to create a more humane and just society. Our commitment to social justice should compel us to demand an end to the displacement, starvation and murder of people in Sudan's Darfur region. Our involvement should be immediate and ongoing to end this genocide. We can also help advocate for significant policies that build and support humane laws while strengthening humanitarian aid, trade and debt relief.

What can you do? Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of the ONE Campaign (www.ONE.org). Commemorate World Food Day on October 16, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on October 17 or Universal Children's Day on November 20 as a way of generating public awareness. Submit an announcement for your school bulletin or civic or religious organization. Watch for advocacy alerts from NASW, and make your opinions known to U.S. lawmakers.

Let's join forces with social work colleagues across the world and other like-minded organizations in an active and politically forceful coalition to make poverty history.

To comment to Elvira Craig de Silva: president@naswdc.org

From June 2006 NASW News. © 2006 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.