Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, grade: 1,0, University of Richmond, language: English, abstract: Today slavery is not only officially illegal in all nations but furthermore every humanbeing has, in reversion, a non-derogable right not to be enslaved thus giving thecrime of slavery a jus cogens status. Nonetheless, together with other jus cogensnorms such as the prohibition of torture or genocide, slavery still prevails in the worldwith unprecedented numbers of modern slaves. Kevin Bales claims, however, thatthe UN together with other transnational organizations can potentially contribute toending slavery rather sooner than later if they are reformed. This paper will focuson his arguments for reforming the UN and its associated organizations so as toachieve this goal. It will argue that while Bales makes a very good case for reformingthe UN his propositions seem sometimes only to have aspirational character and itappears questionable whether they can ever be implemented. However, this is not tosay that his suggestions are not of tremendous importance, but rather, this essaywants to argue that the importance of the UN should not be overstated. Generallythis essay will focus first on whether the reforms suggested by Bales are feasible andsecond if they are to be implemented how effective they can be in eradicatingslavery. Regarding the first point this essay will outline different arguments regardingthe implementation of the reforms according to Slaughter s and Mearsheimer s lineof argumentation. In regard to the latter point this essay will focus first on the lack ofenforceability while acknowledging the informational power of the UN and second onthe underlying problems of slavery that stand to some extend in contrast to the UN smission. Finally this paper will conclude that while it is not impossible to implementthe proposed changes in the UN there are considerable challenges to be overcomeand furthermore the effect these changes might have on the process of abolishingslavery might be rather small. [...]
