[wzslider]
19 March marks World Social Work Day and celebrates the work and activities of social workers throughout the world. The International Federation of Social Workers, a global federation that represents over 750,000 social workers in over 90 countries, has announced that the theme for this year’s celebration of World Social Work Today is ”Promoting Social and Economic Equalities”.
By: Medina Malagić
On the occassion of World Social Work Day 2013, the OSCE Misison to BiH organized a roundtable that gathered all representatives of social workers organizatons formed in BiH, which is composed of the RS Social Workers Organization and eight social workers organizations formed at the cantonal level of the FBiH. Five of these organizations were recently formed with the assistance of the OSCE Mission to BiH.
Other participants at today’s roundtable included OSCE staff from field offices throughout BiH, who serve as the primary counterparts to social workers and the organizations to which they belong in BiH.
Fermin Cordoba, Head of the Human Rights Section of the OSCE Mission to BiH and Andrea Dabizzi, the Human Rights Advisor on Economic and Social Rights in the Human Rights Section of the OSCE Mission addressed participants at the roundtable.
The Head of the Human Rights Section Fermin Cordoba spoke of some of the progress that has been made so far. He stated that the OSCE Mission had worked with some of the representatives from social workers organizationsgathered here today in providing comments to the RS Law on Social Protection that was adopted last year. In addition, the OSCE Mission was a part of a working group at the FBiH level and in some of the cantons to amend the existing law. He stressed that since the OSCE will not be in BiH forever, the assistance of the OSCE Mission in establishing an association of social workers is essential.
Andrea Davizzi explained that the International Federation of Social Workers chose the promotion of social and economic equalities as this year’s theme because the economic systems today are largely unjust and only serve the interests of a minority of the population.
In a statement to the media, Fatima Bećirović, President of the Association of Social Workers in Tuzla Canton, said that this year’s theme is especially important for BiH, since it is transparent that economic and social inequality is one of the main problems in our country. Thus, more attention needs to be drawn to this difficult situation in our country in order to reach effective solutions.
Davizzi went on to highlight the work that needs to be done so that the global economy works to promote social justice, human rights and sustainable development. The capacity of local communities needs to be strengthened so that social and economic equality is extended to communities, as well as to vulnerable categories such as older people, women, children, people with learning disabilities and other disabilities.
Keeping all this in mind and noting the importance of social workers organizations in BiH, Andrea Davizzi said, “We believe that these associations represent a strategic tool to progress social services and enhance the capacity of social workers, promoting visibility and recognizing the value of social work’’.
Since this is the first time that these organizations have gathered in one place, Davizzi said that he hopes that this roundtable is “only the first step towards building a stable dialogue and consistent cooperation between all of you”.
