In the current refugee debate, the question of a new social contract is becoming increasingly urgent. Three aspects should be particularly considered: first, the political enforcement of human rights as a modern achievement of history; second, the social underpinning of this legal protection through ancient cultural values such as empathy and solidarity; and third, a canon of rules for fair and respectful coexistence among locals and newcomers. For this canon, which is recognized as a common obligation beyond cultural differences, Aleida Assmann proposes the concept of human duties, the five-thousand-year history of which she reconstructs and updates for the present.