What do we owe to minor refugees? This is the guiding question of “Migration, Childhood and the Limits of Justice” (transcript 2025) by Karoline Reinhardt (University of Passau) and Gottfried Schweiger (Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg). As a philosophical and political essay, it addresses not only an academic audience but also an interested public and policymakers engaged in migration and social justice debates. The book is available as an open access publication.

The volume offers a new ethical perspective on migration by placing children and adolescents at the center—not merely as vulnerable dependents but as individuals with their own rights and moral claims. Reinhardt and Schweiger point out that, although children are among those most affected by forced migration, they remain largely invisible in philosophical debates on justice and migration. The book explores how migration and displacement shape the lives and opportunities of children and what moral and political duties arise from this. Combining philosophical reasoning with insights from psychology, sociology, and political science, the authors show how existing institutions often fail to address the specific needs of young refugees.

A central focus is the question of responsibility: Who bears it, and how should it be shared? Reinhardt and Schweiger develop a model of shared responsibility that distributes moral duties among states, citizens, and global institutions. Justice for children affected by migration, they argue, is not a matter of goodwill but a requirement of social and political responsibility. In its final chapter, the book examines current and emerging challenges such as war, climate change, digitalization, and inequality, all of which shape the experiences of displaced children worldwide. Migration, Childhood and the Limits of Justice provides a nuanced framework for reflecting on fair migration policies and on our collective moral responsibilities toward young people on the move.

 Here you’ll find the book (accessible via Open Access)

About the authors:

• Karoline Reinhardt is Tenure Track Professor of Applied Ethics at the University of Passau. Her research focuses on migration, artificial intelligence, digitalization, and Kant.
• Gottfried Schweiger is a researcher at the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at the University of Salzburg. His work focuses on political philosophy, especially poverty, childhood, and migration.