ABSTRACT
If the sanctity of human life is an overriding moral concern, and if altruism is a feature of moral principle, then the case for regarding internationalism as a moral obligation has been outlined. Internationalism is a programme for saving human life on a grand scale by setting universal peace and security before short-term national interests. To refute the claim that there is a moral obligation to pursue the internationalist programme it is insufficient to point out that there are questions and uncertainties in the underlying causal theory: certainty may not be necessary for a moral claim to hold, and the validity of a moral claim may even be independent of causality. This is why the moral status of the internationalist programme needs to be examined.2
