Human rights represent one of the most powerful ideas in contemporary discourse. In a world of economic globalisation, where individualism, greed and becoming rich are seen as the most important things in life, and where at the same time the formerly secure moral positions for judging our actions seem to be declining into a morass of postmodern relativism, the idea of human rights provides an alternative moral reference point for those who would seek to reaffirm the values of humanity.

This book is written in the belief that human rights are important, and that they are particularly important for those in the human service professions in general, and for social workers in particular. By framing social work specifically as a human rights profession, many of the issues and dilemmas that face social work can be looked at in a new light. Further, human rights can provide social workers with a moral basis for their practice, both at the level of day-to-day work with ‘clients’, and also in community development and in policy advocacy and activism; indeed a human rights perspective can help to link these varying roles into a unified and holistic view of social work practice. This book seeks to articulate what it means to say that social work is a human rights profession, and to consider the implications of such a perspective for the practice of social work.