NASW POLICY STATEMENTS ON REFUGEES

As cited in Social Work Speaks, 8th edition.

NASW supports federal, state, and local policies that

- Provide support for victims of the African slave trade, internally displaced people, and victims of
trafficking.
- Uphold and support equity and human rights for immigrants and refugees, while at the same time
protecting national security.
- Promote social justice and avoid racism and discrimination or profiling on the basis of race,
religion, country of origin, gender, sexual orientation, or other grounds.
- Ensure access to language-appropriate services in the form of interpreters, translated documents,
and other resources as needed.
- Provide for the alleviation of economic and political conditions that force people to flee their
homes and ensure that victims of human conflict in the poorest, least strategically
important countries of the world do not continue to be ignored.
- Ensure fair treatment and due process in accordance with international human rights for all
asylum seekers.
- Support humanitarian measures to protect victims of and enforcement to prevent human
trafficking.
- Provide adequate U.S. contributions to refugee assistance globally through support of the
UNHCR budget and other aid programs.
- Provide fair refugee admissions policies and priorities that respond to human emergencies,
including review of policies such as interdiction at sea that violate international human rights law.
- Provide refugee resettlement programs adequate in length and substance to include English
language training, trauma, and mental health counseling, and job readiness and placement.
- Restore the right to judicial review and modification of expedited removal provisions, especially
for those claiming the right to asylum.

Sources:

National Association of Social Workers. (2009). Social Work Speaks: National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements (8th ed.).
Washington, DC: NASW Press.

UNHCR Refugee Statistics. (2010). [Graph Illustration of Refugee Statistics from 2010]. Retrieved from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33026764/UNHCR-refugee-statistics-2010.