The National meeting on “Ethics for Social work: challenges and support mechanism in Syria” was organized by UNESCO Beirut office in collaboration with The Syrian Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MOSAL) and the Syrian National Commission for UNESCO in Damascus, on the 19th and 20th of May 2021.
In her opening address, Salwa Al Abdallah, Syrian Minister of Social affairs and Labor, welcomed the 35 participants, experts and educators in the field of social work in Syria, and shared her expectations in bridging gaps between theories and practices of social work ethics on the ground.
On her part, Dr. Seiko Sugita, Programme Specialist for Social and Human Sciences representing Costanza Farina, the Director of the UNESCO regional bureau for education in Beirut, stressed the role of ethics in promoting inclusiveness and addressing inequalities in increasingly diverse societies.
A series of panel interventions by researchers and professors of social work as well as experts from Syria and Lebanon, namely from the National ethics committees, discussed ethical dilemmas in social work and challenges of promoting ethics among social workers in Syria, over the course of two days. Group discussions also explored possible ways to enhance accountability and promotion of ethics for social work. The issue of protection of social workers was also highlighted, especially with the ongoing challenges of COVID-19.
The Director of family cases at the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs and population, Rana Khlefaoui, found in that regard that the experiences and lessons learnt on the formulation of codes and charters of ethics from other countries were very useful.
Wael Al Badin, the Syrian Deputy Minister of Social Affairs and Labor concluded the meeting by inviting participants to explore ways to institutionalize the efforts in the promotion of ethics in the field of social work.