World Federation of Occupational Therapists position statement: Occupational Therapy and Human Rights (Revised 2019) – the backstory and future challenges

ABSTRACT

The World Federation of Occupational Therapists’ (WFOT) adoption of the Position Statement, Occupational Therapy and Human Rights (2006) was a global milestone for the profession. The revised 2019 Position Statement marks the next milestone towards becoming a socially and ethically responsive profession; playing a vital role to advance human rights, justice, and social inclusion globally. To inform progress towards embracing a human rights perspective, this paper documents that history and unpacks the reasoning behind the revisions. We start with a brief history of the 13-year journey from 2006 to 2019, marked by extensive discussion, consultation, and scholarship on occupational justice, social inclusion, and human rights. We end with notes on opportunities and challenges for occupational therapists in any situation, from clinical practice to policy leadership, to speak out, write, and otherwise take a strong stand on occupational therapy and human rights, occupational justice and social inclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational justice
• human rights
• WFOT
• position statement
• social inclusion
• occupational therapy practice

Acknowledgements

Our sincere thanks to the many people who assisted with translation and distribution of the 2019 Draft Position Statement: Occupational Therapy and Human Rights, particularly Ana Malfitano and Lilian Magalhães from Brazil.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).