Social Human Rights Research Articles

Advancing Integration: The Social Work Response to Restrictionist U.S. Immigration Policies

ABSTRACT This paper argues that social workers must combat historical misinformation, ethnic-racial bias, and narratives of immigrants as threats to advance integrationist immigration policies and immigrant well-being. First, we draw on aLatinx critical theoretical perspective (LatCrit) to expose the role of U.S. immigration policy in the social construction of a large and oppressed Mexican immigrant population that is partially integrated but not legally recognized. Then, we analyze how restrictionist immigration policies violate social work values and human rights and contrast this with an integrationist approach. We conclude with implications for advocacy for integrationist policies and responses to restrictionist policies.

Comfort Women: Enhancing Students’ Global Awareness through Human Right Education

Teaching about the comfort women of World War II offers a compelling case study for the social studies classroom and human rights education. The topic will educate students to become knowledgeable about the larger world and its dark histories that have been omitted or scarcely mentioned in U.S. history textbooks. This article provides high school social studies teachers with the historical background of comfort women, rationales for including this topic in social studies curriculum, and teaching strategies and resources that teachers can use in their classrooms.

“There is no ‘us and them’”: Engaging with Migration and Border Crossing Narratives through Shadow Puppetry in Ghosts of the River

ABSTRACT This paper explores the representation of border crossing and other migration experiences in the shadow play Ghosts of the River, written by Octavio Solís and performed by the ShadowLight Company. The devices employed to engage spectators with the reality of migrants in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas are analysed in order to bring out the play’s potential to raise awareness of social (in)justice and human rights in the context of the current migratory crisis. Solís’s accounts of his own purposes and composition process are considered, with particular reference to the need to erase the “us” versus “them” divide that tears people apart. The study is underpinned by theories of othering pertaining to the construction of the migrant as alien other or stranger, as articulated by several key scholars. Likewise, spectral criticism informs the interpretation of the characters’ ghostly nature. In this regard, theories deriving from Derrida’s hauntology elaborate on the use of the ghost trope in fictional texts, particularly in those texts pertaining to minority cultural discourses, in which the ghost embodies the oppressed other reappearing as a haunting figure that questions the established order. As is shown, this is the case with the play’s ghost figures, caught in the liminal space of the river as haunting presences endowed with a voice that enables them to articulate their narratives and reenact once and again their ordeals as migrant crossers.

Cosmopolitan critical literacy and youth civic engagement for human rights

ABSTRACT In this theoretical paper centered on adolescent literacy and civic engagement, we draw from human rights education and multimodal cosmopolitan critical literacy consider the ways adolescents may take up civic engagment. With a combination of multimodal resources and social networking, adolescents are able to have an impact on a variety of social and political issues including immigration, translanguaging, racism, bullying, and other community problems relevant to their lives. The purpose of this essay is to illuminate the many ways that adolescents can participate in local and global civic engagement through human rights education and multimodal critical cosmopolitan literacy, as well as critique current practices.he analysis uses a 3-level construct to selectively examine youth civic engagement. Results indicate that, while there is promising work being done to promote civic engagement from a justice-oriented stance, more work and research is needed to explore the affordances and challenges of global civic engagement as well as the possibilities of utilizing multimodal literacies and social networking to address social justice and human rights issues.

Идея социальных прав человека в трактовке представителей школы возрожденного естественного права России конца XIX – начала XX в.

We analyze the representatives’ views of the school of revived natural law on the social human rights problem. We note that a key milestone in the state and legal transformations of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was the consolidation of civil rights and freedoms for Russian citi-zens. We establish that representatives of the school of revived natural law developed a theory of individual rights and freedoms in the context of the re-lationship between the constitutional state with the ethics and morality prob-lems. We doctrinally justify that social rights, along with political rights, oc-cupied an important place in the catalog of human rights classification developed by scientists, due to the fact that they were associated with values such as social justice and social equality. We offer arguments indicating that representatives of the school of revived natural law considered the right to a dignified human existence as the source of social rights emergence, which were a prerequisite for the individual’s social emancipation and an attempt to transform the estate society into a civil one.

SOCIAL RIGHTS AND THE BASIC LAW OF GERMANY

Modern Germany, despite the title of one of the stable social states, in the Basic Law practically does not mention social human rights and guarantees in this area. This paradox is very interesting, because, having no fundamental provisions, the state has been managing with social function for a long time and quite successfully. In 2019, however, there were renewed calls for a change in the Constitution, enshrining these provisions along with other human rights and their safeguards.

Suva Residents’ Views on Cancer, Diabetes and HIV in The Fiji Times

The burden of preventable diseases is increasing in the South Pacific Island Countries and Territories. In Fiji, significant media attention and national finances are spent on public dissemination of the modifiable risk factors of chronic illnesses. However, little is known about lay societal perceptions of chronic illnesses and of people living with these illnesses. This preliminary study takes an area-situated approach to lay knowledge and examines Suva residents’ moral evaluations associated with socially significant health concerns in Fiji. Using the case studies of HIV, cancer, and diabetes, the research employs content analysis to examine 144 Suva residents’ Letters to the Editor, published between 2000 and 2019 in The Fiji Times. The findings indicate that letter writers on chronic illnesses are power sensitive, interested in governmental responsibility, and aware of the role of stigma in creating inequitable health outcomes. The study’s findings locate chronic illness as not only a medical responsibility but also a social justice and human rights concern that requires a multisectoral approach, with community-tailored responses at the heart of all discussions. The lay-societal recognition of the three illnesses as being socially relevant suggests grassroots support for policies directed towards structural reforms for the prevention and management of these illnesses.

The Historical Role of the International Labour Organization for the Establishment of International Standards for Labour and Social Human Rights

The subject of the research is the role of the International Labour Organization in establishing international standards for labour and social human rights. The analysis is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the creation of this universal specialized international organization.

Формування інституту соціальних прав у контексті розвитку європейської соціальної політики

Досліджено процеси формування та набуття соціальними правами правового спрямування на основі законодавчого досвіду країн європейської спільноти. Проаналізовано еволюцію функцій держави в умовах набуття соціальними правами юридичного спрямування. Зауважено, що важливим аспектом у роботі цього напряму є аналіз міжнародних стандартів, стандартів Ради Європи та Європейського Союзу щодо реалізації та забезпечення соціальних прав людини.

Bridging human rights and social determinants of health: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to do a systematic assessment and testing of identified human rights norms alongside social determinant approaches in relation to identified health issues of concern in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) to show how social determinants and human rights frameworks improve population health. Design/methodology/approach To do so, in the first part the authors analyze the inequalities both between and within each of the selected countries in terms of health status and health determinants of the population. Then, in the second section, the authors analyze the level of recognition, institutionalisation and accountability of the right to health in each country. Findings From the data used in this paper it is possible to conclude that the four analysed countries have improved their results in terms of health status, health care and health behaviours. This improvement coincides with the recognition, institutionalisation and creation of accountability mechanisms of human rights principles and standards in terms of health and that a human rights approach to health and its relation with other social determinants have extended universal health coverage and health systems in the four analysed countries. Originality/value Despite of the importance of the relation between human rights and social determinants of health, there are few human right scholars working on the issues of social determinants of health and human rights. Most of the literature of health and human rights has been focussed specific relations between specific rights and the right to health, but less human right scholar working on social determinants of health. On the other hand, just a few epidemiologists and people working on social medicine have actually started to use a universal human rights frame and discourse. In fact, according to Vnkatapuram, Bell and Marmot: “while health and human rights advocates have from the start taken a global perspective, social medicine and social epidemiology have been slower to catch up”.

Extra-legal policing strategies and HIV risk environment: accounts of people who inject drugs in Nigeria

This article reports on an exploratory qualitative study investigating extra-legal policing practices and HIV vulnerability among injecting drug users. It draws upon thematic analysis of interview accounts of 29 street-involved PWID, recruited through snowball sampling in Uyo, Nigeria. The data emphasized that policing is a structural mechanism perpetuating drug-related harms and social suffering in the lives of PWID. Policing strategies, including searches, violence and confiscation of sterile needles and syringes, reproduce an environment of fear that undermines risk reduction and contributes to HIV risk via injecting in risky settings and receptive syringe sharing. Accounts highlighted humiliations, labeling and other expressions of contempt as forms of ‘moral policing’, which reinforce stigma and sanction human rights violations. Extra-legal policing practices, including violence, extortion and sexual harassments, adversely affect health and well-being. This raises questions about the effectiveness and legitimacy of policing and highlights a social justice perspective that may contribute to the reduction of health inequalities for PWID. It also provides a social justice and human rights rationale for advocacy for policy reforms, safe injection sites, needle and syringe distribution, oral drug substitution programs and rights-based, public health-oriented policing that enable access to harm reduction services for PWID.

Rethinking universalism: Older-age international migrants and social pensions in Latin America and the Caribbean

This article criticises the social policy literature for equating universalism to the universal coverage of citizens. The current so-called ‘universal’ social protection systems guarantee social citizen rights, while the revisited truly universalism guarantees social human rights for everyone. Crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) is used to map and track the level of exclusiveness or inclusiveness into social pensions in the existing 30 social pension programmes on 28 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. The article examines the various paths of eligibility requirements in social pensions conditioning three specific outcomes: (1) access for every older-age individual (truly universal), (2) access for every category of immigrant (no targeting by citizenship or residency) and (3) access for older-age immigrants with legal resident status (targeting by residency but not by citizenship). The research makes several contributions. First, it offers a useful inventory of the eligibility requirements for access to the 30 social pensions in LAC. Second, it proposes an analytical framework to redefine universalism after considering the migration-social policy nexus. Contrary to what the literature claims, there are no universal social pensions in the region. Third, the analysis indicates that only in two countries, Cuba and Jamaica, social pensions have immigrant-friendly targeting rules, requiring neither citizenship nor any length of residency to become a beneficiary. A total of 12 countries require citizenship and 24 of them a certain number of years of residency. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of social pensions are means tested. Finally, the csQCA allows identifying patterns of targeting mechanisms and is used to propose five exploratory regimes of inclusionary social pensions. The article calls for protected international mobility of the older-age population in the form of a truly universalistic system in which the entire aged population has the right to a social pension. Only then, countries would truly adhere to Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Social work and social justice: The relationship between fitness to practise and criminal convictions for non-violent activism

INTRODUCTION: Social work as a profession is underpinned by ideas of social justice and human rights, and that social workers have an ethical obligation to uphold these ideas. Social workers have a history of engagement in non-violent social justice activism (NVSJA), and a proud record of achieving social change in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, having a criminal conviction for engaging in NVSJA can be a barrier to social work registration in Aotearoa New Zealand.APPROACH: An exploration of current research around NVSJA and social work registration was conducted. Along with an examination of the Social Workers Registration Board’s (SWRB’s) Fit and Proper Person Policy Statement, with a consideration on the reporting of acts of NVSJA and social workers by the media.CONCLUSION: Those who engage in NVSJA are often likely to gain criminal convictions. This creates a potential barrier for social workers who go beyond the rhetoric and fight for social justice, in a macro and practical sense, from gaining registration. This has become additionally important since the Social Workers Registration Legislation Act (2019) passed and with registration becoming mandatory two years after the Act gained royal assent. There is a need for a change to the Fit and Proper Person Policy Statement so that the SWRB is better able to support social workers who are standing for what social work is all about, or at least, what social work is stated to be all about.

Teaching Human Rights and Social Justice in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT Human rights and social justice are recognized as integral to social work education. Previous research shows a variety of means are being used to teach human rights and social justice yet relatively little is known about the teaching methods used in social work programs and about the type of knowledge and skills delivered. This survey of social work programs across the United States found that three fourths of all responding programs teach social justice and human rights, yet social justice was more prevalent in the curricula and as an area of faculty expertise. Content on social justice and human rights was most likely to be integrated throughout required courses and in courses focused on cultural diversity and policy. It is recommended that additional resources should be developed for social work educators to learn about human rights and its relation to social justice to develop rights-based skills and approaches among students.

Moral Education for Structural Change

The experience of the education for the social responsibility program at the University of Concepción suggests the viability of large-scale moral education forming a functional, realistic, and socially unifying ethical conscience. Three educational principles supported by scientific findings are proposed to guide moral education: understanding, participation, and empathy from experience. Taking as an example the 'structural trap' by which the good intention of complying with social human rights such as health, ends up discouraging economic investment, it is suggested that good large scale moral education is capable of facilitating the overcoming of structural obstacles to solutions to social and ecological problems.

The family rights of children on social protection as a composition of social human rights and citizenship: Domestic and European context

The article deals with the approaches of scholars to the distinction of rights of man and citizen in general and their constituent right to protection, and analyzed the norms of the international documents in which they are consolidated. It is stressed that there is a need to bring the requirements of national law in line with European standards in order to achieve a sufficient standard of living for the population, which is the basis of well-being of the countries. It is proposed to use the term social and legal protection. Based on the results of the comparative analysis of international and regional standards of the rights of the child and national legislation in the field of rights of the child, it was stated that it is possible to speak about the high degree of their correlation. It was emphasized that the material norms, which establish the rights of the child, correspond to international and to a large extent to European standards, and the organizational block of law needs to be changed due to the imperfection of the national security system

Research on Discrimination and Self-fulfilling Prophecy in Schools Globally

The article analyses and critiques recent research findings dealing with major forms of discrimination and discriminatory practices, and their impact on learners and their implications for the student’s social identity, self-esteem, human rights and social justice. The article focuses on specific research findings dealing with intelligence discrimination, learning discrimination, race and ethnicity discrimination, and the nexus between the self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) and academic achievement. This article evaluates research dealing with the notion of discrimination in the classroom, and the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Corporate social responsibility, human rights and law firms

An increase in the power and reach of corporations has driven increasing concern with corporate responsibility. The social impact of corporations, including law firms, includes any interactions with human rights. This article argues that Australian law firms should engage more actively with human rights standards, and ensure that they are not unwittingly complicit in human rights violations. It identifies key areas in which law firms’ conduct may impact human rights, and suggests corporate responsibility practices and policies for adoption.

Bienestar social: un objetivo compartido. Sobre la alianza entre los derechos humanos y el trabajo social

En este trabajo se analiza la relación histórica que existe entre los derechos humanos y el desarrollo del trabajo social, abordando las implicaciones que tiene el enfoque de los derechos en la profesión y su papel en la defensa y promoción de los derechos humanos. Para ello, se utiliza como método la revisión y discusión de la bibliografía científica -en los ámbitos de la teoría de los derechos humanos y de la historia del trabajo social- y de las recientes investigaciones que evidencian la aplicación de este enfoque en la intervención social contemporánea en el ámbito internacional. Este análisis permite ofrecer una serie de motivos para incorporar un enfoque crítico de los derechos en la intervención social, así como reafirmar la alianza que existe entre el trabajo social y los derechos humanos en torno a un objetivo común: la promoción del bienestar social.

The Philosophy of Social and Economic Human Rights

Fil: Montero, Julio Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas; Argentina