Reclaiming Civil Society: Key Challenge to Social Work
Past and present trends in national, regional and global situations point to alarming deterioration of respect for the dignity and human rights of the human person and of humankind in general. The centrality of the human person in the development agenda of major actors in world affairs has been set aside to give way to vested interests that benefit only a few and leave the majority of the world's population in abject impoverishment and the planet earth in a terrible mess and chaos.
The author will highlight , on one hand, the crucial need to re-assert the centrality of the human person in all of human activity in all its dimension: social economic, political, spiritual - at all levels: family, community, national, regional, global and on the other hand, the central role that social workers play in this crucial task.
Historically, the paper will attempt to draw the link from the human person to various levels of his/her collectivities and associations that form "civil society" and why it is being "reclaimed". Further, the paper will give some 'hows' by sharing some examples based on her concrete experiences with victims and survivors of human rights violations, her involvement with "People Power" movement in her country and her current role in the historic establishment of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, considered a landmark in the struggle and search for peace and justice for victims of most heinous crimes of international concern: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
As a social work practitioner, the paper will assert the central role of the social work profession in the "reclaiming" process, what the process entails and the many possibilities that the current global situation has to offer. She will draw upon the past and present social work initiatives especially those in the areas of "redressing exlusion, reinforcing inclusion", "cooperating for social justice", enhancing "partnerships that work", "empowering people" and "addressing globalization".