Social Workers Voice Support For Gaza

Kate RamsdenThe International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) represents 3 million social workers throughout 150 member countries.Under the global definition of the social work profession, it states, “The overarching principles of social work are respect for the inherent worth and dignity of human beings, doing no harm, respect for diversity and upholding human rights and social justice.”On this basis you could be forgiven for thinking that its response to the current situation in Gaza, where 30,000 civilians including more than 12,000 children, have now been slaughtered in 5 months of Israeli bombardment; where many more face the prospect of death by starvation and disease because Israel is withholding adequate humanitarian aid; would have been very robust.Instead, on October 12 2023 we get a statement of solidarity with social workers in both Israel and Palestine, extending “our deepest support to social workers as they navigate through this tragedy. We hope that social workers can find ways to support one another during these challenging times, so they can keep their personal resilience and professional strength.”To be fair it was written less than a week after Israel began its deadly bombardment of Gaza – but even then it was clear that Israel’s rampage would result in the deaths of innocents and would create an impossible situation for the most vulnerable and those who try to support them in social work roles.Then up until 27 February… nothing. As the appalling situation in Gaza has unfolded, with the displacement of most of the population, the flattening of residential buildings, hospitals, schools and places of worship through Israeli bombardment, the killings, maiming and starvation of the Gazan people, affecting the most vulnerable the hardest, until this week, we have heard not a cheep from IFSW.Through Social Workers for a Free Palestine however, we have heard from social workers in Gaza. A moving video voices the words of these social workers. Of course they can’t practice. How can they support their client groups when, along with everyone else they are fighting for their very survival? How can they provide additional supports for people with disabilities when public services have been all but destroyed. And when more and more of the civilian population face futures, if they survive, with life changing injuries including amputations. Where over three quarters have been displaced, their houses destroyed. Where schools, hospitals and other key infrastructure have been demolished.How can they support children to deal with trauma when the trauma never ends? When it has become their very existence? How can they even support children with their basic rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to food, care, education, play, special protections in time of war, when the daily reality is more and more bombing by an occupying power and such limited access to the very basics of life – food, water, freedom from disease? We now hear that levels of malnutrition amongst children in Gaza are the worst in the world.The distraught words of the four social workers featured are heartbreaking. They describe how they can no longer serve their communities and client groups as social workers, how they are caught up in the same fight for survival as every other civilian in Gaza. They speak of dear colleagues already killed in Israel’s bombardment and they ask not to be forgotten.One described how his family has separated into two parts, in the hope that if one is killed, the other will stay alive. Another speaks of how he worked in a UN school – a safe shelter – supporting children and helping them to play. An Israeli bomb dropped on the school killed many of those children. How can he go on?All the social workers called on us to be their voice, and to raise ours to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation. They called on us to hold accountable all those who are complicit in the murders of civilians and social workers. They were unsparing in their criticism of IFSW and their failure to stand with social workers in Palestine, failing even to mention the genocide in Gaza in their Christmas message. The IFSW statement now is welcome but for those social workers and their colleagues in Gaza, it comes very late (See statement here).I am delighted that Common Weal Care Reform Group and UNISON Scotland Social Work Issues Group (SWIG) have responded to the social workers’ call, joining with Social Workers for a Free Palestine to host a webinar on Tuesday 19 March 7-9pm – World Social Work Day.At that event the Social Workers’ Pledge for Palestine will be unveiled, and participants will hear directly from social workers from Palestine. Ken Loach, one of the greatest film-makers the UK has ever had, who has had such a positive impact on social work by highlighting the most pressing social issues of our times, will also be a speaker. You can sign up at the link here.UNISON Scotland’s SWIG has also issued its own statement in support of social workers in Gaza and calling for an immediate ceasefire. You can read the statement here.It also calls on social worker to take action including joining protests and raising their voices in support of a ceasefire and in solidarity with our colleagues in Gaza. If we are to be properly true to our social work values, we can surely do no less.