About the Book
As social work students and practitioners encounter the term “Human Rights” with greater frequency, there is a pressing need for them to understand its meaning, especially in contradistinction to the related concept of “social justice”. This book is an overview of human rights ideas and laws for social workers that stresses the importance of human rights in all types of social work policy and practice. It traces the history and development of human rights from the passage of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and subsequent international documents. In particular, “Social Work and Human Rights” addresses issues relating to vulnerable groups, including women, children, disabled persons, the HIV- or AIDS-infected population, gays and lesbians, victims of racism, and older persons. The book also includes indispensable case studies that illustrate the application of human rights theory in real-life settings. These case studies demonstrate how to identify relevant human rights issues and then connect these issues to ethical responsibilities in order to form an appropriate intervention scenario with the client.
Contents
About the Author / Editor
Elisabeth Reichert, MSSW, Ph.D., received her degree in social work from the University of Tennessee in 1985 with the aid of a Fulbright Scholarship. She also holds an equivalent degree in Germany. After receiving her social work degree, she practiced clinical social work until 1994, when she began teaching social work policy and practice at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
