Social Work Codes of Ethics in the Arab Countries of Western Asia: A Comparison to the IFSW Global Statement of Ethical Principles

This study compares social work codes of ethics in the Arab countries of Western Asia (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Syria), to the International Federation of Social Workers Global Statement of Ethical Principles (2018). As of 2020-with Qatar's recent addition of an MSW programme-there are over two dozen bachelor and/or master's degree programmes in social work in the Arab countries of Western Asia. As social work has grown as a profession in the region, many countries have formed national social work associations and are adopting or developing their own codes of ethics. Five of the twelve countries in the study developed their own original social work codes of ethics (Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon). Comparison of these codes to the IFSW principle statements reveals that most include at least half of the IFSW statements. In addition, three of the codes of ethics (Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain) reference Islam, God and/or Islamic concepts. This study suggests that the IFSW Global Statement of Ethical Principles can serve as the guide it was intended to be in the development of social work codes of ethics around the globe, including Arab-Islamic countries. Social work is a profession driven by ethical principles such as, respecting the dignity and worth of all people. Although professional social work began in western Europe and north America, today there are social work programmes around the world. One of the largest international social work organisations, the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), developed a global statement of ethical principles to guide development of codes of ethics. In this study, we collected social work codes of ethics from countries in part of the Arab-Islamic world to determine if they included the principles in the IFSW statement, and if these codes included references to Islam. Of the twelve countries we examined (Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA], Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Syria), five had created their own codes of ethics (Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, KSA and Lebanon). All five included some of the principles from the IFSW statement and three (Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain) referenced Islam and/or Islamic concepts. This study shows there are principles in the IFSW Global Statement of Ethical Principles that some Arab-Islamic countries include in their own social work codes of ethics.