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Eden Social Welfare Foundation
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2019-01-25

Professor Hyung Shik Kim, Member of the United Nations CRPD Committee Wishes Practical Service Workers to Exert Their Influence and Used CRPD to Create a More Humane Society.

Special thanks to Niny Yang and Jonathan Burke

 

In order to implement the Convention Rights of the Human Rights and Disabilities (CRPD) and promote human rights-based welfare services, in mid-November this year (2018), the Center of CRPD Research and Practice at Eden Foundation has re-invited Professor Hyung Shik Kim, a member of the United Nations CRPD Committee, to visit Taiwan for training. During the visit, he also visited the service unit to understand its needs and provide suggestions on how to implement CRPD in practical service and explain the connotations of the relevant provisions. 

 

The Eden Foundation officially established the world's first practical research center with CRPD as its main focus. Professor Hyung Shik Kim served as the research center’s general counsel, to help promote the work of CRPD through practical workshops, forums, and writing practical research with local experts and scholars in many fields. 

 

During the training in Taipei, Professor Hyung Shik Kim emphasized that CRPD doesn’t just serve users or service units. Participation should flow from the top (government), to the bottom (citizens), as well as the other way around. By doing this, he hopes to reduce obstacles, enable social equalization, and provide the rights that human beings deserve. 

 

The CEO of Eden Foundation, Joa Song Huang, said that so far 177 countries all over the world have signed the CRPD. Although Taiwan is not an UN member state, it still protected the rights of people with physical and mental disabilities by legalizing the CRPD in 2014, which made CRPD the foundation of law enforcement, in place of the Persons with Disabilities Rights Protection Act.

 

Fifty articles from CRPD have articulated all the rights for people with physical and mental disabilities, and Joa Song Huang has encouraged internal Eden Foundation workers to use them as their core value of their services. 

 

Professor Hyung Shik Kim, Member of the United Nations CRPD Committee Wishes Practical Service Workers to Exert Their Influence and Used CRPD to Create a More Humane Society.

 

On November 22, Professor Hyung Shik Kim, visited in Tainan to conduct practical service and performed educational training. He also listened to the dilemma and provide some suggestions. What’s more, in order to achieve the welfare service with human rights focus as the core value, Professor Kim emphasized that the rule of social workers should support persons with disabilities to express their personal thoughts and opinions, listening to their feelings and thoughts.

 

Eden has conducted educational training sessions of CRPD for social workers for many years and has developed seven different modules according to the training contents, including basic, intermediate concept courses of CRPD, practical cases discussion, and lecture training lessons. The purpose is to enhance the sensitivity of human rights models for social workers in Taiwan.

 

On November 22, Professor Hyung Shik Kim visited Tainan for the first time to conduct practical service and perform educational training. He also listened to the difficulties encountered by local social workers which result in inconsistency between theory and practice and provided immediate suggestions and guidance. Additionally, he emphasized that social workers should think outside of the box, and must take initiative by supporting people with disabilities to express their personal thoughts and opinions, listening to their feelings and thoughts, in order to achieve a welfare service with a human rights focus as its core value.  

 

Eden has provided CRPD education training to practical workers for many years and has developed seven different training content modules, including basic and intermediate CRPD concept courses, practical case discussion, and lecture training. The aim is to enhance the sensitivity of practical workers to human rights models.

 

On November 26 and 27, Eden allowed supervision training to other NGO social workers for the first time. A total of 20 practical supervisors from 13 different NGOs signed up to participate in the course, to discuss their own practice and reflect on the challenge, impact, and response strategy when implementing CRPD.

 

Professor Hyung Shik Kim explained how CRPD impacts social workers and described the criteria and abilities necessary to be a professional in the field of physical and mental disorders in the twenty-first century. He also wished the NGO practitioners could enhance their own influence and use CRPD to create a more humane society.

 

For more information about CRPD and venue renting, please contact us at (02) 2230-6670 ext. 7009.