Social Work and Human Rights: Learning from COVID-19

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to (1) examine global human rights disparities that were acutely revealed or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) explore ways that the identification of disparities and lessons learned during the pandemic offer opportunities for social work education. The article begins with an overview of global human rights in the categories of gender, children, race/ethnicity, environment, and socioeconomic status. The use of an intersectionality framework is then suggested as one lens for examining lessons learned during the pandemic to improve our global preparation and response. We do not want to wait for the next crisis to find populations with the same human rights vulnerability.