Justice and Migration

The purpose of this course is to examine some of the ethical questions which arise from migration and to see what contribution the Christian social ethics tradition offers to the governance of migration. In particular, the category of justice is utilized as a promising development in social ethics. The course focuses, among others, on the perennial tension between the prerogative of the State to manage migration and the aspiration of people to migrate as an expression of the right to a more humane life. This tension is studied in the light of international law and the position of some ethical traditions. The development in the concept of justice, in particular distributive justice, is then considered, as well as the contribution of the concept of justice in the Christian tradition, to offer some elements for a more humane governance of migration.