The IASSW was informed about the initiative from the business group Excellentia – to organise a Social Work World Summit –, and it expresses its full agreement with the pronouncements sent by the Chilean Association of Schools of Social Work Universities (ACHETSU in Spanish) and the Latin American Association for Education and Research in Social Work (ALAEITS in Spanish) to its members and universities. Last year, in 2016, ALAEITS supported the National Council for Education in Social Work of Colombia (CONETS) and to the Colombian Federation of Social Work – on their decision to oppose the development of the call 3rd World Summit for Social Work which was proposed to be host and develop in that country together by the business group Excellentia and the World Social Work Council. The Latina American academics community none of these organisations collect or represent the legitimate interests of the profession.
We want to emphasize that there is already a biannual conference of associations, which since 1928 represents the Social Work world (IASSW/AIETS; International Federation of Social Workers-FITS/IFSW and the International Council on Social Welfare-ICSW/ICSW). These three international organisations have launched a Social Work Global Agenda where they commit to understand, support, apply and enable structures and systems that positively addresses the root causes of the oppression and inequality; to work together with people who are using the services and with others who share goals and aspirations. Thus, to create a world socially and respectful towards the human rights.
The Executive Committee of AIETS/IASSW