Social Work and Human Rights in Disaster Relief: Advocating for Vulnerable Populations Post-Disaster: A case study of Pakistan

Abstract

Natural disaster prevalence and severity have been on the rise in Pakistan, yet, post-disaster recovery actions are still inadequately satisfying the human rights of the vulnerable groups. Current disaster response strategies are mostly geared towards short-term humanitarian aid, emergency relief instead of safeguarding and satisfying the basic rights like access to proper housing, health services, food security, inclusion and honor. The following objectives of this study are as follows: To investigate the degree to which social work practices during post-disaster relief and recovery in Pakistan integrate human rights principles. To examine advocacy functions of social workers preserving and advancing the rights of vulnerable groups of people affected by the disaster in Pakistan. To find out the institutional, policy level, and socio-cultural barriers that impede effective rights-based social work interventions in post-disaster settings. To recommend social work strategies that are human rights oriented and can be used to empower disaster relief and recovery efforts on vulnerable Pakistan citizens. The research design used in this study was a qualitative case study research design, in order to investigate the manner in which social work practices apply to the operationalization of human rights principles in the post disaster relief to the vulnerable members of the Pakistani population. The researcher was driven by an interpretivist research philosophy focusing on studying social reality based on the opinions and lived experiences of the participants. The study was carried out in some of the disaster-affected areas in Pakistan, especially in those areas which were affected by floods and other hazards caused by climate. The population of the study included social work practitioners, members of community who were impacted by the disaster, the local leaders, and the main stakeholders engaged in the process of post-disaster relief and recovery. Participants who were relevant to the study in their terms of knowledge and experience of post-disaster relief and social work advocacy were selected by use of a purposive sampling method. Interviews were semi-structured and focused group, where flexibility was provided, but the interviews adhered to the research question. Individual interviews in the form of semi-structured interviews that allowed in-depth examination of experiences, perceptions and advocacy of the participants, as well as the group discussion within the focus groups allowed the community members to reflect on participating in the community and protecting their rights. The thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data, according to the proposed framework. Informed consent, confidentiality, voluntary participation, and cultural sensitivity are some of the ethical principles that were highly adhered to during the study.