The Right Of Self Determination

The issue of homelessness in regard to shelter in Australia has been prevalent for an extended period of time in the 21st century. Homelessness is the situation in which individuals are unable to attain a permanent and adequate quality of shelter. Shelter is a human right as stated under article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifies “Housing” as part of the standard of living required for an individual to maintain their wellbeing. Australia’s law specifies no legal right to shelter, however as a party of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Australian government must recognise that all individuals should be entitled to “an adequate standard of living for themself and their family”, where one criteria is “adequate housing” as stated in article 11. It is imperative that in order to fulfil both Australia’s obligation to uphold human rights and maintain social cohesion within society both legal and non-legal responses are effective in dealing with both the causes and effects of homelessness.

This essay will address the ethical dilemmas faced by social workers and how they address these ethical dilemmas when working with service users and carers. It will be illustrated that codes of practice and codes of ethics are of paramount importance when dealing with these dilemmas as they are ones that guide social workers as to how they should try and solve these dilemmas.

Social work is a profession which has the objective to improve the quality of life of other individuals. The NASW code of ethics is used as a guideline for social workers and the interaction they have with their clients. In addition, within the code of ethics, there are six values, which include service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Therefore, going into the social work field it is important to understand that your

The section of the National Association of Social Work Ethics that will be discussed will be number four which includes Social Workers’ ethical responsibilities as professionals. This ethics code concentrates on a several different factors which include: 4.01 Competence, 4.02 discrimination, 4.03 private conduct, 4.04 dishonesty, 4.05 personal impairment, 4.06 misinterpretations, 4.07 solicitations, and 4.08 acknowledging credit.

By planting this seed, the Guardian sees this to their advantage, and begins by showing photographs of the homeless camps being rebuilt after the police left. This is complemented by the perspective of former homeless man John Kenney explaining that “homelessness is not a choice…the authorities don’t care where they end up, just as long as they go”. Do you see it? The selection of information is emotively devised to pressure us to empathise with the homeless community; that rebuilding their camps is a sign of growth and the council is the devil for taking that away from

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has written a code of ethics that serves many purposes. The main purpose is to identify the core ethics and values that provide the foundation for the profession. It details six basic principles for social workers to follow: service, social justice, dignity and worth, human relationships, integrity, and competence (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). The code acts as an ethical guide for students, and those professionals just

The commitment to act ethically is an essential aspect of social work due to the effect it can have on the quality of the service offered to those who engage with us. Through group discussions in our foundations of social work practice I have become extremely ethically aware and now will always seek to ascertain and respect, as far as possible, each individual’s preferences, wishes and involvement in decision making. From discussions with my fellow classmates I have learnt to strive to respect and uphold the values and principles of the profession by making sure I promote and work towards the code of ethics wherever possible. This in turn enables me act in a reliable, honest and trustworthy manner having worked closely with service users in a professional setting and learned of their good and bad experiences with practitioners through the service user experience we undertook in class. I believe I am now in a good position to apply the social work ethical principles to my professional practice, in a way that seeks to empower my service users and enable me to emulate the best practice. In addition from reading social work journals and staying on top of news regarding the profession more generally I am knowledgeable about the value base of social work as a profession .

It’s ironic how our civilization has surrounded itself in this homeless-complex where homelessness is perceived as some ominous condition that can only happen to certain people. This passive aggressive form of segregation is the reason why we can’t face our ills of society. We keep ‘minding our business’ for so long but how much more must the homeless suffer before our sense of humanity kicks in? Voices of our people have now come as one, the council must not fail to provide a coherent answer as to whether or not to take responsibility for the homeless under our own terms or demand police and government jurisdiction upon the homeless. I am compelled to strongly advise the council and the people to consider the dimensions of this situation

The moral solution to chronic homelessness is to create a support system that encourages independency as we are morally obligated to offer help, which benefits society as a whole since providing shelter is more cost efficient than the alternative and provides the foundation for people to become productive members of society. Because we are obligated to help those who cannot help themselves, creating a system that provides basic needs is a moral solution. By implementing a system that provides necessities for the homeless, we reduce annual taxpayer costs; therefore, minimizing harm on society. By encouraging independence in a system while still providing basic needs, it gives the chronically homeless the opportunity to become self reliant,

There is a great necessity for the code of ethics in social welfare. The first code of ethics was “adopted in 1960” and was a single page (NASW,1998, para. 8). The last major adoption was in 1996, which was similar to what we see today, in the 2008 edition. In this changing profession it is absolutely necessary for a social worker to have something to reference to when there is an ethical dilemma, because they will transpire from time to time (NASW, 1998).

“When we talk ... about the subject of housing, we are talking about an elemental human need – the need for shelter, for physical and emotional comfort in that shelter. When we talk about people’s basic needs – the requirements for survival – society and the government obviously have an obligation to assure that these basic needs of shelter are met”. This speaks to me because this quote was from the minister or Urban Affairs in 1973, which no longer exists. The article states that if this philosophy continued homelessness would not be a social issue. Which makes the reader realize that the government only works in a way to benefit them, and those “who haves” through laws and regulations.

The Kanyesian and Kimesian people in Westphalia have long lived together in the same territory but recent developments have created tensions. With Kanye as the president, legislation that has limited the Kimeshian’s right to educate their own language along with a lack of representation in the parliament. These tensions led to the creation of a group dedicated to self-determination for the Kimeshian people. We can then look at and understand the legality of their desire for unilateral secession under international law as well as any possible precedents

A whole issue within itself is the accessibility to social housing for vulnerable Australians, with many families needing to seek short-term or crisis accommodation due to the lack of availabilities within the social housing sector, and for those who are able to obtain housing within the private sector often fall victim to private landlords as they display forms of power when rent falls into arears. These people then become victims within the private market, often becoming ‘blacklisted’ by landlords and their agents. It is believed that private renters who attempt to advocate for their rights are often locked out of their premises due to “disruptive behaviour.” (Sharam and Hulse, 2014)

Banks (2011), highlights the responsibility to being ethical and acting ethical is to see the wider political context on a macro level. This type of practice has potential for profound intervention of social change and justice for service users. Banks (2011), further adds, performing ethical analysis can help social workers act as moral agents when dealing with arising ethical issues and dilemmas. This is not to say we do not abide by the contemporary social work practices of norms, social responsibility, values and accountability to policies in organisations, it just means looking at the ethics sphere and using critical reflection to distinguish an alternative course of action when dealing with ethical dilemmas.

The right to self-determination is the right of a group to determine political action concerning the group and its members. In this case, the right to national self-determination is the right of nations to have the institutions to make the political decisions that are of primary concern to the nation and its members (Shorten 2012: 44; Miller 1997: 81; Margalit and Raz 1990: 440). The right exists in international law enshrined in the Civil and Political Human Rights Covenant, and yet there is much controversy about its content, its bearers and how it ought to be implemented (Margalit and Raz 1990: 439). Further, Shorten explains, the right “can be satisfied through a variety of political arrangements, ranging from the establishment of sovereign statehood, to the granting of limited rights of self-government within a given territorial jurisdiction” (2012: 44).