We defend the right not to have to migrate…

We defend the right not to have to migrate… a right that requires working for justice in North–South relations.

The Right Not to Migrate

Last June, we witnessed two events of enormous significance: the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Spain, with a clear message on migration from a universal perspective, and, on the very day of his departure from Spain, 12 June, the entry into force, with mandatory application, of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum. Also, that same month of June, the extraordinary regularisation process came to an end, during which around 1.2 million immigrants had submitted applications for residence permits.

We have always upheld the “right to migrate” as a moral duty of restitution, whereby the wealthier countries should offer a welcoming response to the people of impoverished countries who are driven from their lands by hunger, misery, wars or violence, political or religious persecution, natural disasters, or the depletion and plundering of their lands… But even before the right to migrate, we must affirm the right NOT to migrate—that is, the right to have the conditions necessary to remain in one’s own land, to live in one’s homeland, and to freely develop one’s life project there. Migration out of necessity is forced migration and, therefore, an infringement upon a person’s freedom.

To delve deeper into this “right not to migrate,” we must examine the causes of forced migration: the causes of the unbearable living conditions endured by millions of people who, deprived of this right not to migrate, have been forced to leave their homes, their towns and their countries, leaving behind loved ones, histories and bonds. On many occasions, all of this is compounded by trafficking networks, prostitution rings, slave agricultural labour and criminal traffickers who profit from the need to migrate and inflict the worst tragedies imaginable. More often than not, those who traffic in drugs and weapons also traffic in human beings. The expulsion of people from their lands has become a genuine form of human trafficking.

Among the causes of forced migration, we must not forget that a large proportion of the wealth found in Europe, and in Spain as well, originates institutionally from the plundering of the impoverished peoples of the Earth.

The current capitalist economic structure, both national and transnational, is directly linked to the colonial and neocolonial system of the past three centuries. This model has historically impoverished—and continues to impoverish—numerous peoples in Africa, Asia, Central and South America through the exploitation of their resources and populations for the benefit of wealthy countries.

In the Campaign for Justice that we have been carrying out for 40 years, we have described and defined this as the NORTH–SOUTH THEFT. The European welfare state, and therefore the Spanish welfare state, would not have been possible without this underlying colonial-imperialist structure and dynamic, deliberately concealed from public opinion. The regions of the world that for decades have contributed to the economic prosperity of the North are now those that are expelling the largest numbers of people towards that same North.

We are also deeply aware, through the bonds of struggle and solidarity that unite us with these peoples, that forced migration weakens the countries of origin, which are often rich in natural resources and demographic potential, leaving them extremely vulnerable. In some of these countries, a regime of violence, wars, autocracy and state corruption has become entrenched, continuing to provide fertile ground for countless businesses that exploit the weakest sectors of their societies. For this reason, we cannot fail to assert people’s right to preserve their dignity by not being expelled from their countries and, therefore, their right not to migrate.

We wish to echo Pope Leo XIV’s call to action during his visit to Spain, at the Port of Arguineguín (Gran Canaria):

“Human dignity requires legal and safe pathways, rescue and assistance, genuine cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, serious reception and integration processes, and policies that enable every person to live with dignity in their own land.”

“While there is a right to seek refuge when one’s life is threatened, there is also a right not to have to migrate: the right to remain in one’s own home without hunger, without war, without persecution, without violence, without the land becoming uninhabitable, without corruption stealing the bread of the poor, and without weapons destroying the future of children.”

And in order for every person to be able to live with dignity with their family, in their own land, among their own people and in their own homeland, without being driven from it—in order to prevent forced exoduses caused by poverty, violence and persecution—it is necessary to establish an international legal and moral framework that prevents and penalises the plundering of the Global South. In the meantime, the duty of justice demands restitution and solidarity. Europe and Spain have this duty of justice and restitution.