Understanding Human Rights

Understanding Human Rights: An Exercise Book provides a concise, hands-on roadmap for learning about human rights within a social work context. By illustrating the importance of human rights to the social work profession with understandable explanations and exercises, author Elisabeth Reichert highlights why social workers need to embrace the concept of human rights.  

Key Features: Recognizes the importance of human rights: Recent policy statements by the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) and National Association of Social Workers (NASW) emphasize the need to educate social work students and professionals about human rights. This is the first book to incorporate a broad-based approach to the teaching of human rights, without lengthy, academic discussions of human rights principles. Applies human rights principles: An accessible discussion of human rights topics and themes is provided to help students translate human rights concepts into social work practice. This book helps students identify human rights, recognize the value of human rights, analyze human rights, and take action to realize human rights. Provides analytical tools: Each chapter begins with a major human rights theme, followed by exercises to assist students in understanding the discussion. The book aims to make human rights concepts real and adaptable to everyday circumstances. An interactive approach to learning about human rights is offered to generate true enthusiasm to and give students a working knowledge of this extremely important topic.  

Intended Audience: This book is an ideal supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on policy, practice, and advanced generalist practice in the field of social work, as well as an excellent resource for social work practitioners.