Reply To: Institutional violence

[David N Jones]

This Global Summit process has emerged from many sources but one of them was the world social work conference in Hong Kong in 2010 when we agreed the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. That shaped the evolution of advocacy for social work by IFSW, IASSW and ICSW over the following decade and strengthened the voice of global social work. Hong Kong, and the many colleagues in HK who planned and supported that conference, have therefore played a key role in raising awareness. The political situation in many countries is now VERY challenging, including my own UK. There is no easy solution but the People’s Summit offers a channel for voicing people’s concerns and supporting each other in difficult times. The world faces absolutely basic threats to our very survival and leaders will have to listen or they will lead us to destruction. Hong Kong is one of my favourite cities, with a vibrant social work community which has made a disproportionate contribution to world social work. I look forward to my next visit.