Human Rights and Social Justice

Human Rights and brotherly Justice incorporate Paper Vicki MacWhinnie-Ilundain Fordham University Viewpoint and Concepts that Best Clarify the Dilemmas in Hugos object lesson Hugos story highlights the value conflicts that loving histrions face in every-day convention. The policies that dictate the funding, the scope of service, and the eligibility for the playact that Hugo whitethorn withdraw in coiffe to understand his basic homophile rights were break outed deep down a system that continues to shape within the Rawlsian theory of accessible justice frame cultivate.Therefore, these government policies melt to support the concept that passel ar only entitled to their upright and due share of services and/or access to visions if they are operative to enhance the good of the over any society (Banerjee, 2005, p. 13). In Hugos case, there are psychological, cultural and material factors that may bear upon his baron to maintain gainful employment. These indiv idual aspects of Hugos life situation are non taken into consideration in determining how long he merchant ship receive supports, or what types of supports he receives.The state-funded financial benefits that Hugo requires in order to digest his very, basic ask met such as food, clothing and nurse, wee-wee a five-year ricochet. Because there is no consideration to human rights behind the 5-year limit, Hugo has unmet human rights. This creates a value conflict for Hugos complaisant thespian, who is working within a system that has Rawlsian infused policies yet, is mandated by the National Social Work calculate of Ethics to promote sociable justice in a carriage that notices the unique strengths and dignity of the individual (NASW, 2008).You sess read overlyJustice System Position PaperThe neighborly doer working from a human rights-based perspective where according to Ife (2008) there is a indebtedness on every member of society to respect and support peoples rights, go out greet Hugos unmet require that stem from this 5-year limit insurance as unfulfilled rights rather than assessing them as needs for which Hugo may or may not qualify to receive services (p. 113). Adding to the complexity and value conflict of the neighborly workers role is the need for the favorable worker to partner with Hugo to identify not only his assets exactly to withal identify the barriers he faces.The amicable worker chamberpot develop a more(prenominal) in-depth understanding of Hugos barriers by exploring the levels of con collect Hugo endures and his positionalty opposite number all the systems and individuals he interacts with in society. Hugo is experiencing conquering at a morphological level as a result of his position as an immigrant from Haiti who has experience trauma. Hugo has psychological and physical impairments as the result of past trauma, he is of an value-system background that is not part of the privileged class in the fall in Sta tes, and he was born outside the united States.These characteristics, which Hugo inherited through drive home and via traumatic life experiences, tend to lead to discrimination in the fall in States. As a result of systematic discrimination, Hugo belongs to a subordinate root in the society and is oppressed by the dominant group. Mullaly (2010) explains that this web of oppression occurs for the most part because of the sanctioned slipway that loving institutions, laws, social policies, and social radiation diagrams all work together to benefit the dominant group at the expense of subordinate groups (p. 197). Challenges in Social Work Practice as a Result of a Paradigm ShiftIn this impact of identifying assets and barriers, the social worker may face shape up value conflicts that impact their ability to empower Hugo to guide his human rights The social worker has a moral and professional obligation to help Hugo advocate for his human rights. This depart take supporting Hu gos desire to participate in a lawsuit against the US government, who created the 5-year limit on human beings financial support. In Hugos circumstance, the judicial mandate that limits the total amount of years he mess access funding is impeding Hugos right to food, shelter, centre of attention abuse treatment, psychological care, and safety.As an employee of a state funded program, the social worker is not allowed to ignore this mandate or seek to undermine it in any way. The social worker is faced with the challenge of partnering with Hugo to support his quest to actualize his human rights while working within a legal mandate that restricts Hugos access to the resources he requires in order to claim his human rights. The social worker is also challenged to reframe the way they conceptualize their interventions with Hugo. By choosing a rights-based approach, the ocial workers dialogue regarding Hugos rights leave alone not only have a more global tone, but it will require the social worker to use additional skills to engage Hugo in a converseion that empowers Hugo to define his rights. Ife (2008) asserts that this type of social work practice has the potential to do more than just address an individuals minimum needs but allows for social work to be transformative by building a society held together by mutual respect for human rights of all citizens and based on notions of interdependence, mutual support and corporate soundly-being (p. 13). The challenge for the social worker is to elevate discussions and practice beyond working just with the individual case by engaging in dialogues and actions that link their profession to economic, political and social aims of society as a whole (Riechert, 2007, p. 31). The social worker faces many challenges when making a figure of speech shift from a needs-based approach of social work to an elevated practice that focuses on human rights.The needs-based approach, where the provider identifies or diagnoses the cl ients needs into narrow categories, and then provides a focused intervention, is deeply penetrate in the traditional models of practice. For example, the medical model is still widely accredited as best practice and is often used in social service programs and agencies. When taking the human rights approach, the social worker will reframe Hugos experience so that his rights are identified first, then used to re-conceptualize the needs that have to be met in order to actualize his rights.The social worker also faces the challenge of advocating for Hugo to receive services that support his right-based needs in systems with competing values. The rights-based approach conflicts with business office practices at a mezzo level, such as the use a medical treatment model that may not be culturally sensitive or focused on Hugos rights. The social worker may also experience conflicts of values on a macro level when advocating for funding for Hugos services.The state and/or federal governme nt, who provide funding for the social services, may place a value on providing the least amount of services for minimum court to tax payers rather than on Hugos unmet rights. On a small level, the social worker may experience difficulties building rapport with Hugo because of their differences in gender, ethic background, power, education, and socio-economic status. Levels and Dimensions of Hugos Well BeingThe common Declaration of Human Rights established global principles of human rights that set the antecedence that all people have the right to an a standard of upkeep adequate for their health and salutary being including food, clothing, hovictimization, and medical care and incumbent social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his realize (United Nations, 1994). Hugos social worker back discuss Hugos well being in a human rights framework by exploring the domains of e udaimonia that impact Hugos daily life.The social worker and Hugo may need to establish a language to use as they talk rough Hugos life experiences, if they are going to successfully switch from a needs-based paradigm to a rights-based paradigm. The social worker can use the vii domains of wellbeing to help deconstruct the needs-based thinking and language that has been the context for the interventions Hugo has reliable from social services in the past. Discussions using the domains of wellbeing may include education, mental health, physical health, political and legal, cultural, and spiritual.After reaching the 5-year limit for public financial benefits, Hugo does not have access the resources required to provide food, shelter and clothing. Hugos metal and physical functioning has been impacted after experiencing a series of traumas, limiting Hugos access to education and employment. Hugo experiences multiple levels of oppression and discrimination which he may have internalize d making it difficult for him to endorse his abilities, cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and make a constituent to his community (World Health Organization, 1999).Hugo has experienced physical traumas that have impacted his physical capabilities. As an immigrant in the United States Hugo does not have fair or equal access to legal support or protection by laws. The discrimination that Hugo experiences also impacts Hugos ability to be seen as a valued member of the society his is living in. The social worker can support Hugo by exploring all aspects of Hugos well being so he can discover how to start to advocate for his rights that are encompassed by each of these life domains Plan of Engagement, Empowerment and ParticipationAfter further exploring various aspects of Hugos well being, that would also include Hugos assets or strengths, the social worker and Hugo may want to develop a visualise of action to guide their work together. Hugo identified immediately t hat he cute to access to the group who is collecting data for a lawsuit against the US government. Although it may be considered a conflict of interest for the agency that employs the social worker to be involved with the lawsuit against the state, the social worker can connect Hugo to the group so that he can work at a time with them.The social worker could also met with her supervisor and/or agency handler to discuss what networks or committees the agency attends in the community. Often these groups hold more power than a single social worker or agency and work directly with governmental agencies to make recommendations or to advocate for policy changes that best serve the interest in their communities. By using these approaches, the social worker is assessing her own positionality in her agency and community so that she can best support the requests of Hugo, without disrupting the relationship she has with her employer.The social worker can also start researching what resource s are available in the community that can address the barriers that Hugo is experiencing while trying to claim all of his human rights. Once a comprehensive list of services and or resources is developed, the social worker and discuss each of these resources with Hugo to get his feedback about what he thinks might be utilitarian to him. The social worker would provide information about the advantages and risks and/or disadvantages to using any of the resources so that Hugo could make an informed decision.If there is a resource that Hugo is interested in utilizing but does not quite meet the criteria or does not have the funds to access, the social worker can work with the agency and funding sources to see if there are alternative ways for him to access the resource. Even if Hugo does not get immediate access to the resource, the social worker has left a path of documentation and advocacy that can be used to work towards access to these types of resources in the future. oer time, the social worker can build a strong relationship make from trust and mutual respect with Hugo.In order to do that the social worker will need to understand how her positionality relates to Hugos and how that impacts Hugo interactions with the social worker and visa versa. It appears as though Hugo has used multiple community services in the past, yet he still has not actualized his rights. The social-worker can explore with Hugo what services were helpful to him in the past and what aspects of the services became barriers to him changing his over-all well being.If the social worker finds with the services in their community are for example, not compatible with Hugos cultural beliefs, then the social worker can work in the community to advocate for changes how services are provided. different agencies may be open to expanding how they provide services to include all members in their community. The social worker can accomplish these strategies by adopting the cleverness approach. Nu ssbaum (2007) describes the capability approach as a species of a human rights approach.It makes clear, how- ever, that the disposed(p) goal is to make people able to function in a variety of areas of central importance. (p. 21) By empowering Hugo to further develop his cognitive, physical and social skills, the social worker can provide opportunities for Hugo to attain his identified rights-based needs. The social worker encourages capability building by advocating that Hugo receive services that will build specific skills, not just treat a diagnosis. Over time, Hugo can learn to identify and articulate his rights, reframe them into needs and demand services that allow him to claim his rights.In doing so, Hugo will request services that have the components that he recognizes as necessary for his well-being. References Banerjee, M. M. (2005). Social Work, Rawlsian Social Justice, and Social Development. Social Development issues, 27(1), 7-24 Ife, J. (2008). Human Rights and Social Work Towards Rights-Based Practice (2nd ed. ). New York, NY Cambridge University Press. Mullaly, B. (2010). repugn Oppression and Confronting Privilege (2nd ed. ) New York, NY Oxford University Press. NASW. (2008). Code of Ethics of the National connexion of Social Work.Retrieved from http//www. socialworkers. org/pubs/code/code. asp Nussbaum, M. (2007). Human Rights and Human Capabilities. Harvard Human Rights Journal, 20(1) 21-24 Reichert, E. (2007). Challenges in Human Rights A Social Work Perspective. New York, NY Columbia University Press. United Nations. (1994). Human rights and social work A manual for schools of social work and social work profession. Geneva United Nations Center for Human Rights. Retrieved from http//www. ohchr. org/Documents/Publications/training1en. pdf.