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NEWS
February 2010
Index
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News from IFSW
Statement on the Earth quake in Haiti - Communiqué sur le séisme en Haïti - Declaración sobre el terremoto en HaitíThe community of social workers around the world conveys their deepest sympathy and solidarity to all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. We know that so many thousands of people have lost their lives and even more are grieving and displaced.
World Social Work Day 2010: Making human rights real - the Social Work Agenda
People are making changes in their lives to improve their quality of life every day across the world - and social workers are there helping them. World Social Work Day is a celebration of these achievements and an opportunity to highlight what work still has to be done for people’s rights to be respected.
Wherever we live in the world, people are being harmed, abused and neglected and their civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights are being violated. Every day, social workers are helping individuals and groups of people in such situations, helping them to live a better life and to find ways to respect competing rights in complex situations.
The implementation of all the international Human Rights Conventions, treaties and agreements used to focus on individual civil and political rights in order to guarantee fair trials, rights to vote, freedom from torture and abuse. More and more they now also consider collective/community rights and emphasise economic, social and cultural rights in order to defend the rights to education, housing, health, employment, adequate income and social security.
This new focus on making human rights a reality in daily life – ‘making human rights real’ - is an important issue in the consultations leading into the 2010 Joint World Conference. The social work profession works alongside those who are excluded, discriminated against, abused or poor – whose rights are not respected. The profession aims to achieve social change leading to a dignified life and social justice for all.
IFSW President, Dr David N Jones, comments that “Wherever there is extreme poverty, lack of basic needs like food, water and shelter, the trafficking and abuse of people across countries or serious family problems in affluent societies, you will find social workers alongside people, helping them to make changes in their lives. The 2010 social work world conference will show how social work will develop its contribution to building people-centred and sustainable social progress and social change. World social work day gives us an opportunity to celebrate this crucial work.”
Be part of the next Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Agenda Building Process - Consultation papersIn preparation for the forthcoming 2010 Joint World Conference in Hong Kong, IFSW and its international partner organisations IASSW and ICSW are motivating social workers, social work educators and people involved in social development around the globe to build the Action Agenda for the next decade together. IFSW is encouraging these groups to take part in online discussions on the role of social work in eradicating poverty, on ageing and older adults and on service user/consumer involvement and social work.
Global News
Web-based relief tools to help HaitiHundreds of tech volunteers spurred to action by Haiti's killer quake are adding a new dimension to disaster relief, developing new tools and services for first responders and the public in an unprecedented effort.
Volunteers have built and refined software for tracking missing people, mapping the disaster area and enabling urgent mobile phone text messaging. Organisations including the International Red Cross and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency have put the systems to use.
Voices of Youth (VOY), UNICEF's website for children and young people, is hosting an online discussion on Girls and Gender Equality. The discussion is part of a series of United Nations online discussions dedicated to the fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly (2000), and will be a contribution to the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on 1-12 March 2010.
Around 300 actors in the field of poverty and social exclusion will be present at the opening conference of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
Participants coming from the 27 Member States as well as Iceland and Norway, will discuss current challenges in the fight against poverty, the impact of the EU's Growth and Jobs Strategy and future commitments beyond 2010.
New Film "Precious" - A movie for social workers? Precious is a new American drama film based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones, a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born who seeks a better life for herself and her two children. She is pregnant with her second child after being raped by her father, Precious lives with her mother, Mary, in a squalid apartment where she endures the latter's near-constant verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
In an effort to harness the energy, imagination and initiative of the world’s youth in overcoming the challenges facing humankind, from enhancing peace to boosting economic development, the United Nations proclaimed an International Year of Youth starting on 12 August 2010.
International Federation of Social Workers IFSW, Postfach 6875, Schwarztorstrasse 20, CH-3001 BERNE, SWITZERLAND, contact@ifsw.org
page last updated on 17.02.2010
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