From moral obligation to legal obligation: Do the world’s rich have cosmopolitan obligations to reduce the poverty of the world’s poor? (original) (raw)
Economically there is a huge difference between nations and among people. While some nations and people are very poor others are very rich. But very few wonder how some came to be rich and others came to be poor. A disturbing fact is that some people may be poor or have become poor because others exploited them. Although there has been relative reduction of extreme poverty over the past years the world’s rich people and nations have generally become richer. I examine how Africa has been empoverished through systematic exploitation. By systematically empoverishing poor countries rich nations have breached negative duties. Empoverishing others results in all kinds of ills and sometimes death and is a kind of crime that has to be taken into consideration especially when the empoverishment becomes systematic. I argue that systemic empoverishment of others entails that those who empoverish incur moral obligations to pay for the poverty they cause. Prior studies show that we all have an obligation to assist anyone in poverty no matter who caused it and how far these poor people may be. I argue that the former obligation is more stringent than the latter and indeed calls for an inquiry into the act of empoverishing others. Systematic empoverishment of the other should be taken as a crime and in this case the moral obligation to eliminate poverty should be replaced by a legal obligation to compensate the poor for past and present wrong doings.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
The Immorality of Aid to the 'Third World' (Africa)
Harries, Jim. 2011. ‘The Immorality of Aid to the “Third World” (Africa).’ 23-40 In: Harries, Jim, 2011. Vulnerable Mission; insights into Christian Mission to Africa from a position of vulnerability. Pasadena: William Carey Library.