As social workers and others encounter the term "human rights" with greater frequency, there is a pressing need for them to understand its meaning, especially in contradistinction to the term "social justice". This book is an overview of human rights concepts and laws for social workers that stresses the need to infuse human rights into social work policy and practice. The volume covers the history and development of human rights from the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations to the drafting of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action in 1995. In addition, the book addresses human rights issues relating to vulnerable groups including women, children, disabled persons, the HIV- or AIDS-infected population, gays and lesbians, victims of racism and older persons.