Human Rights in Chilean Social Work: Lessons from Chile to Prepare Social Work Students for Human Rights Practice

Gabriela Rubilar Donoso,Caterine Galaz Valderrama,Catherine A Labrenz

doi:10.1007/s41134-020-00156-8

Abstract

This article presents findings from two studies conducted in Chile to examine the link between human rights and social work practice. The focus of this paper was to explore the role of undergraduate education in preparing future social work practitioners for human rights practice. Data from a qualitative longitudinal study to understand the role of social workers during the dictatorship in Chile (1973–1989) were used; then, in October 2019, as civil unrest and police and military brutality erupted across the country, the authors created a commission to register and document narratives and testimonies of current human rights violations in Chile. The research team utilized a qualitative approach to analyze data from the in-depth interviews that were conducted in the longitudinal study and from the 2019 commission. Findings suggest a need to cover more in-depth human rights content in social work education and to teach students to create community collaborations in the field. Implications for social work education and practice in the current political climate are explored.

Highlights

This article presents findings from two studies conducted in Chile to examine the link between human rights and social work practice
Based on the analysis of narratives form the longitudinal study of social workers and human rights, and the testimonies gathered between October and December 2019, two main themes emerged that were related to human rights and social work in Chile
This article presented different ways that social workers have integrated human rights into education and practice during two historic periods separated by thirty years in Chile: the military dictatorship (1973–1989) and the social movements during the second half of 2019

Summary

Introduction

This article presents findings from two studies conducted in Chile to examine the link between human rights and social work practice. This paper presents the process that leaders from the School of Social Work at the Universidad de Chile undertook to document narratives of human rights violations during two main periods of unrest in Chile: The first of which was during Pinochet’s regime from 1973 to 1989 and the second from October 2019 until the present, during the estallido social. Findings from these processes have implications for social work practice and education and of social work practitioners as they enter the field. Neoliberalism and policies under the dictatorship colonized knowledge production in some areas of social work, some schools and professionals became re-committed to resistance and human rights (Castañeda and Salamé 2013)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion