A refugee, like me: why the Golden Rule matters in an era of mass migration

Cultural differences between these groups no doubt underlie those outcomes. But we need further research into ways of integrating immigrant communities into Western standards of human rights and liberal democracies while respecting their own values, provided those values do not violate human rights.

The Golden Rule, moral philosopher Jeffrey Wattles argued:

is part of the planet’s common language, shared by persons with differing but overlapping conceptions of morality.

Yet we know that racism and discrimination occur – and will continue to occur as vast swathes of humanity migrate around the globe. We must be prepared to use creativity and empathy when responding to global catastrophe, and understand both our differences and our universal values.