HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL WORK AN INTERNATIONAL VIDEOCONFERENCING FOR AND BY STUDENTS SOCIAL WORK

Since more than 6 years I’m organizing with social work students from other European Universities a videoconferencing about human rights. The students discuss 3 subtopics:

1. Human rights. Are they important for the Social Worker?
In this subtopic the students discuss the ‘statement’ of Jim Ife:
“Human Rights and Social Work : towards Rights-Based Practice”

2. Human rights and migration.
The students start their discussion with the general situation that we live in a global world and that international migrants crossing borders in hope of working or freedom. Once migrated the migrants face a wide range of human rights abuses since they often fall through the cracks of legal protection. Some of the central questions the social work students discuss are: What kind of Human Rights abuses? Obstacles that prevent many migrants from seeking redress for human rights abuses? What’s our position and/or responsibility as Social Worker?

3. Human rights, refugees and IDPs.
The basis the discussion is article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To make it concrete the students discuss the question if there is a conflict between this article and the fact throughout the world refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced persons (IDP’s) are the victims of racial discrimination, racist attacks, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance.

In my paper I will present the problems with organizing this videoconferencing and an overview of the results of the last 6 years of international videoconferencing for and by students social work about human rights.