Migration from one country to another is an important part of natural human behaviour, and has formed an important part of human history, ever since human beings first migrated, on-mass, from East Africa[i], where all human beings originally lived. They migrated to Europe and Asia, in order to escape a harsh climate and food shortages, before eventually going on to populate virtually every island and continent on the planet[ii].
Every other wild species of animal that is physically capable of migrating from one country or region to another, is completely free to do so at will, at any time, except for human beings, whose movements and right to settle in other countries are strictly controlled by law.
This is 100% a problem of our own making, and it denies all human beings their natural human right to migrate whenever they wish to. If such controls had existed during the history of our species, every human being on Earth would still live in the Rift Valley in East Africa[iii], which is known as the ‘birthplace of civilisation’.
For most of the 300,000 years of our own human history[iv], and for all the billions of years of the history of every species that we evolved from, we had the absolute right and freedom to go wherever we chose to, anywhere in the world, as long as we were capable of getting there. This, in today’s world, is no longer the case for our species, meaning that all human beings in the world are now effectively ‘captive’ animals, not able to move freely without permission.
In today’s world, the planet, which used to have no barriers or borders, has been divided into different countries and regions, each with its own power to decide who can and can’t enter and leave that country, and who can live and work there.
Natural Humanists believe that ‘all property is theft’[v], and that all land on Earth is, morally if not legally, ‘owned’ by all human beings, and all other species, equally, and that all human beings should have an equal right to move through, and live in, any country on Earth, and then to stay there permanently, or to move on again at will.
Some nations only allow people into their country if, as capitalists, they believe they are of sufficient ‘value’ to them, for example, they have ‘useful’ work-skills that are in short-supply in that that country, or savings or capital which they can invest in properties or businesses, all of which will benefit the State, or that country’s existing residents.
Some countries restrict entry based on whether a person has the ‘right’ political, moral or religious beliefs, according to that country’s government, or whether they have done ‘wrong’ in the past, for example, if they have a criminal record, which is of even greater significance to those who might have done things that are illegal in that destination country, but are not in the country that somebody is migrating from, or vice versa. This includes things like the practising of homosexuality, punishable by death in some countries, or the taking of soft drugs, which is sometimes punishable by lengthy imprisonment, but in other countries is fully legal or is tolerated.
Natural Humanists believe in forgiveness, acknowledge that ‘to err is human’ [vi], and believe strongly that ‘if one fails, we all fail’. Consequently, they apply this to every human being, no matter what they’ve done in the past. They believe that all human beings have a strong moral responsibility to welcome, and to show love, kindness and understanding, to every human being, and to encourage and enable people to avoid future wrong-doing, and to live a positive and meaningful life. They also strongly believe that ‘two wrongs do not make a right’, so it’s never morally responsible, or acceptable, for any state to abuse, degrade or unnecessarily control somebody, or to ever deny them the right to enter or live in a country, because they’re considered by those with power to have ‘done wrong’ in the past.
Some citizens, of some countries, believe that nobody should be allowed to live in ‘their’ country, unless they ‘belong to their team’, for example, they share the ‘right’ religion, sexuality, or political or moral views.
Natural Humanists are against any type of competitive ‘team’, so disapprove of the way that countries and regions compete with each other, as if they’re opposing teams, only one of which can ever be allowed to ‘win’. They believe that every human being belongs to the same global ‘family’, and all share common ancestors, who themselves migrated from East Africa, so they believe that every human being will always ‘belong’, anywhere in the world, regardless of who they are, what they believe and what they might have done in the past.
They believe that every human being should have absolute freedom to migrate, permanently or temporarily, to any part of any region, any country or any continent, and that this freedom should be a human right, enshrined in law. They believe that we all, as human beings, have an absolute right to share, equally, every part of the planet, both with each other, and with all other species, and that we all have an equal right to call any part of it our home.
They believe that migration is absolutely what nature ‘intended’, so it should never be restricted, but that it’s down to each individual population and government to decide whether new migrants to their country should have the same legal rights as existing citizens. For example, whether they provide social housing and social security benefits to new immigrants, which jobs, if any, they’re permitted to apply for, how much of their income they pay in taxes, to cover all costs of their immigration, and which public services, like non-essential healthcare for adults, they’re provided with free of charge, and which they’re required to pay for.
They believe that, if a country accepting immigrants does not allow them the right to vote in that country, then international law should allow them to have full voting rights throughout their life in the country in which they were born, or, if they prefer, the country from which they recently migrated, if that country permits this. They also believe that all migrants should be allowed to return to the country of their birth at any time during their life and should be given the same legal rights and privileges that are granted to people who have lived there all of their lives.
They believe that all migrants, to all countries, should always be welcomed and treated with kindness and respect, that they should never be abused, and that they should always have access to emergency and life-saving medical treatment and police protection.
They believe that any migrant should be allowed to remain in any country, as long as they’re not breaking morally decent laws, and that they should be free to pay their own money to rent private accommodation, or should be free to be ‘homeless’, for example, living in a tent, as long as they’re not damaging or polluting the local environment.
They believe that a charity or government body should have legal powers to ensure that all immigrants are protected from abuse or degrading treatment and that they have the legal right to peacefully settle in any country.
They also believe that, at the very least, all migrants should be given simple accommodation, whether funded by themselves, or by the government of the country they’re in, or the country they were born in or migrated from, if they choose to do full-time work that’s important to the planet, or to do important voluntary work, or charity fundraising, or to start a worthwhile ethical business, or to do any type of job that’s important to that country, but is unpopular with local residents, such as picking vegetables.
They believe that this accommodation should be clean, decent and meet their basic needs, for example, a room in a communal property with all essential facilities, and that doing this work should also entitle them to receive nutritious food, clothing, heating and all of the other essentials for a decent, simple, but meaningful existence, including essential healthcare and schooling, for as long as they wish to continue living there, and to continue doing this work.
In short, they believe that every human being should have the absolute freedom to travel to any number of countries during their lifetime, and to stay in each for as long as they wish, because that is exactly what nature ‘intended’.
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References
[i] Wikipedia contributors. “Early human migrations.” 23 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations
[ii] Wikipedia contributors. “Early human migrations.” 23 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations
[iii] Wikipedia contributors. “Early human migrations.” 23 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations
[iv] University of Southampton. “Early human migrants followed lush corridor route out of Africa.” 4 October 2023. southampton.ac.uk. 6 June 2025. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2023/10/early-migration.page
[v] Wikipedia contributors. “Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.” 2 Jun. 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_is_theft
[vi] Pope, Alexander. ‘An Essay on Criticism’ (Poem)