Moral Obligations, or Why We Should Help People Even If We Don’t Like Them

Abstract

This chapter argues that Western liberal democracies have a moral obligation to rethink the way that refugees are treated during their displacement and to ensure they have access to the minimum conditions of human dignity. Yet many people find the language of morality uncomfortable or inappropriate when it comes to refugees. Others deny that morality is real and makes legitimate demands on us. This chapter responds to these concerns and gives an overview of the concept of a moral obligation by looking at its roots in philosophy and religion. The chapter examines the consequentialist, Kantian, religious, and human rights grounds for morality in order to demonstrate why a moral perspective is fundamental to addressing the crisis that refugees experience. This chapter makes clear that morality is not merely personal but can and must be extended globally. Countries must take their moral obligations to refugees seriously.