Human Rights and Social Work

Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Rights-Based Practice helps students and practitioners understand how human rights concepts underpin the social work profession and inform their practice.

This book examines the three generations of human rights and the systems of oppression that prevent citizens from participating in society as equals. It explores a range of topics, from ethics and ethical social work practice, to deductive and inductive approaches to human rights, and global and local human rights discourses. The language, processes, structures and theories of social work that are fundamental to the profession are also discussed.

This edition features case studies exploring current events, movements and human rights crises, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the Northern Territory Emergency Response, and homelessness among LGBTIQA+ young people. This edition is accompanied by online resources for both students and instructors.

Human Rights and Social Work is an indispensable guide for social work students and practitioners.

About the Authors

Emeritus Professor Jim Ife holds honorary positions at the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights at Deakin University, Western Sydney University Victoria University, Melbourne. He is a former secretary of the Human Rights Commission of the International Federation of Social Workers and is also a former president of Amnesty International Australia.

Karen Soldati?, Professor, School of Social Sciences and Institute Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. She was awarded a Fogarty Foundation Excellence in Education Fellowship for 2006–2009, a British Academy International Fellowship in 2012, a fellowship at The Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University (2011–2012), and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (2016–2019).

Professor Linda Briskman holds the Margaret Whitlam Chair of Social Work at Western Sydney University. She previously held the Dr Haruhisa Handa Chair of Human Rights Education at Curtin University (following Jim Ife) and Professor of Social Work at Curtin University. She conducts research, writes and advocates for the rights of Indigenous peoples and asylum seekers as well as challenging racism, including Islamophobia.