Become more familiar with the long history of the international human rights movement by examining the Human Rights timeline: http://www.stockton.edu/~falkd/timeline.htm.
- Become familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments and covenants relevant to your practice setting by visiting the following United Nations website: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/. Be sure to find at least one specific (not just the Universal Declaration) human rights instrument that addresses the client population your agency serves.
- Discover whether your agency’s mission, policies and practices, formal or informal, reflect an awareness of human rights, as enumerated in the human rights instruments you have reviewed. To do this, talk with your field instructor and workers, review the agency mission statement and policy manual, and observe the areas where clients wait for services.
- Identify any social work ethical standards that mandate social workers to be human rights advocates. Refer to the IFSW website for a view of an international social work ethical code: http://www.ifsw.org and NASW’s website for the NASW Code of Ethics: http://www.naswdc.org.
- Write 3-4 page paper summarizing (1) what you discovered about your agency’s consciousness of human rights and degree to which agency mission, policy and practice respect and protect human rights, (2) what specific ethical standards mandate social workers to be human rights advocates, and (3) ways in which your agency might change to become even more supportive of human rights.
