Georg Muller

Are Kevin Bales' suggestions for reforming the United Nations so as to bring the end of slavery too idealistic?: Reconsidering the importance of the UN Georg Muller

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - International 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 human being has, in reversion, a non-derogable right not to be enslaved thus giving the crime of slavery a jus cogens status. Nonetheless, together with other jus cogens norms such as the prohibition of torture or genocide, slavery still prevails in the world with unprecedented numbers of modern slaves. Kevin Bales claims, however, that the UN together with other transnational organizations can potentially contribute to ending slavery rather sooner than later - if they are reformed. This paper will focus on his arguments for reforming the UN and its associated organizations so as to achieve this goal. It will argue that while Bales makes a very good case for reforming the UN his propositions seem sometimes only to have aspirational character and it appears questionable whether they can ever be implemented. However, this is not to say that his suggestions are not of tremendous importance, but rather, this essay wants to argue that the importance of the UN should not be overstated. Generally this essay will focus first on whether the reforms suggested by Bales are feasible and second if they are to be implemented how effective they can be in eradicating slavery. Regarding the first point this essay will outline different arguments regarding the implementation of the reforms according to Slaughter's and Mearsheimer's line of argumentation. In regard to the latter point this essay will focus first on the lack of enforceability while acknowledging the informational power of the UN and second on the underlying problems of slavery that stand to some extend in contrast to the UN's mission. Finally this paper will conclude that while it is not impossible to implement the proposed changes in the UN there are