Ethics

Do wealthy and freer nations have a duty to admit citizens from poorer and more oppressed countries if doing so would improve their quality of life? Why or why not?
Which moral factors should a country consider when deciding who can and can’t immigrate to its lands?

ANSWER

Ethics

Do wealthy and freer nations have a duty to admit citizens from poorer and more oppressed countries if doing so would improve their quality of life? Why or why not?

Wealthy and free nations do not have a duty to admit citizens from poorer countries but they have the responsibility and power to do so. International development and globalization have been major themes in the current world. These have been linked to improving the living conditions of the world. Under international development and globalization context, the wealthy and free nations have been involved in reducing poverty and promoting growth and sustainable development in poorer countries. These have supported the leading thinker to advance in knowledge and offer solutions to practical development issues in poorer countries and offer resources, training and advice that is needed to implement and share their solutions to the countries that need them.

Relatively, they have the responsibility to help the less developed countries through the International Development Association. The International Development Association has pursued a better world through elimination of discrimination, poverty and injustice. Under the International Development Association, a novel international agency that finances economic growth in the poorer countries, the well developed countries have been involved in developing the less developed countries (Majumdar, 2019). They have contributed through financing the less developed countries, increasing productivity and improving the standards of living.

Despite the fact that well developed countries do not have a duty to help the poorer countries, there is still a benefit for both the well developed and less developed nations. Developed countries benefit through globalization as business compete globally and from ensuring rearrangement in production and international trade. Most immigrants move into the well developed nations in such for better opportunities and improved living standards. Development aid has been linked to mitigating forced displacement in poor countries. Creating job opportunities in poorer nations will help diversify economy over time thus reducing the risk of migration (Kury and Redo, 2018). Therefore, promoting economic development of poorer countries will reduce immigration. Additionally, assisting the immigrants from less developed countries offers the most basic protection for the developed countries. For instance, allowing refugees to work and offering them the right to education and health, refugees can begin productive lives thus becoming productive members of the society.

Accepting immigrants into the developed countries can play a great role in helping the poorer and developed countries. The faster the GDP growth of developing nations, the greater the trade integration thus generating gains for the developing countries. This is because the developed countries depend on the local and global economic growth to achieve social and economic progress. Ideally, refugees can play a major role in fostering international investment and trade. This is because they understand the business environment in both countries very well thus can mediate between both countries for the developed countries that want to do business with local businesses and invest in the local community. Considerably, involving refugees in well developed countries is widely considered as an effective approach of boosting economic health of poorer countries, boosting their independence and restoring the dignity of people from less developed nations.

Which moral factors should a country consider when deciding who can and can’t immigrate to its lands?

According Steinhoff (2022), citizens have the moral right to agree on which criteria they decide who they grant immigrants citizenship. The admittance of citizens positively influences the host country’s stability to stimulate economics locally and globally. The network and social advantage of sharing ideas, traditions and cultural experiences of immigrants vastly improve the strength of the host nation. Therefore, to boost the overall strength of the host nation, there is need to consider migration ethics. The ethics of migration are essential during selective immigrant approaches. There are various perspectives on how people migrate, why they migrate and the impact of migration. The different admission schemes have to follow different logics such as humanitarian. Most states are under moral obligations that govern how they admit migrants.

Nations should be considerate and establish fair immigration laws. Moral immigration laws are just human and humane to contribute the public good.  Immigration ethics play a great role when selecting immigrants (Türkmen, 2018). The goal of admitting citizens from poorer countries is to boost the quality of citizens as well as support the growth of host country. Nations need to employ moral factors into considerations who can migrate and who can’t to include loyalty, honesty and commitment of the immigrants. Loyalty of the country they are seeking admittance needs to be valued. One of the major challenges during immigration is dual loyalty of the immigrant. Dual loyalty entails separate interests among the immigrants that can cause conflict of interest. Therefore, it’s important to put into consideration national loyalty of the immigrant while accepting their admittance. Higher loyalty is linked to higher acceptance, trust and support of the immigrant.

In the United States, loyalty has played a major role in determining who can be a citizens of the U.S. Ability to display honesty during interviewing and screening processes should be considered during admittance. Additionally, the level of commitment has to be promising. When debating about the ethics and moral obligation in migration, it’s important to remember that it includes moving from one region to another and interaction between people of different attitudes and values. There is a high tension between people and countries due to conflicting interests. Therefore, the immigration ethics should put into consideration the dignity of the immigrant and host country.

References

Kury, H., & Redo, S. (2018). Refugees and migrants in law and policy. Challenges and.

Majumdar, A. (2019). Immigrants and Refugees in Globalized World. Asian Journal of Humanity, Art and Literature, 6(2), 87-104.

Steinhoff, U. (2022). Freedom, Culture, and the Right to Exclude: On the Permissibility and Necessity of Immigration Restrictions. Routledge.

Türkmen, F. F. (2018). Rethinking citizenship, immigration and refugee admissions from an ethics of immigration perspective (Master’s thesis, Middle East Technical University).