I was actually taken aback by a question posed so directly. I find I do not know how to answer as simply as possible, although I was convinced I knew what the answer should contain. The content of my answer also expands depending on the person to whom the answer pertains, to whom it is posed, and in what country. One thing after another comes to mind, rights give way to feelings and the other way round again in the tangle of ideas. I realize I ought to start sorting those fragments revolving in my mind, and to put a comprehensive picture together.

I start on a general level and divide the question directed at the U.S. president into two parts. Well, Mr. President, I am putting down the first piece of the picture: human rights within the country, rights and freedoms of your own citizens. Everything is affected by ancient history, success and injustice, victories and defeats, boom and decline, and passed on from generation to generation.

That makes the question, and even more so the answer, if there is any.

The Constitution guarantees the rule of law and freedom within the country, and although I do not dare belittle this notion, I voice a lay idea based on reality: the Constitution is one thing, and daily practice is something completely different. I do know that the right to life and safety in the U.S.A. is harshly tested by millions of violent crimes, millions of crimes against property, and paralyzed by the more than 200 million privately held firearms. Personal freedom of citizens, the rule of law needed for one to be able to breathe freely, is strongly restricted by the government itself through substantial restrictions in the form of state of the art monitoring and listening devices. If I add the great material inequality, i.e., the astronomic difference between wealthy and poor Americans, which is the greatest among developed countries in the last twenty years, into the equation, I will hardly reach the desired answer. And I must not forget about discrimination, although I would prefer to shut it out completely. It takes on many forms, Hispanic families, people of colour, African-Americans, Native Americans, all of them are staggering around in the circle of disparity of income, educational opportunities, sexual discrimination and harassment. And once again, history and sharing from generation to generation makes it difficult to remove the barriers. I ask myself whether this is, in a nutshell, all that the U.S. president always has to bear in mind and what he must proactively address vis-à-vis his citizens in terms of rights and freedoms on an internal level. One thing I am certain of is that he must unite America as such, in social and economic areas, to make sure that every citizen regardless of his/her origin and status believes in his/her country, fights for it, finds job security, reward, a healthy and as conflict-free a life as possible there.

The second part of the puzzle are U.S. infringements on rights and freedoms abroad. Mr. President, I certainly do not expect an easier task and answer as compared to the internal rights and freedoms of U.S. citizens. I do not need to think too hard to realize that a superpower of the magnitude of the United States certainly does not expand its influence, power and reach by subtle adjustments and chatting over tea or coffee. Unfortunately, America has a rather long tradition of violating the sovereignty and human rights in other countries. Invasions resulting in the deaths of civilians and enormous economic damage are a giant stain on the foreign "policy” of the United States. That stain is further aggravated by prolonged economic embargos and sanctions directed at certain countries.

I am unable to think of a realistic solution for an immediate turnaround. It is easy to say "well, just don't do it; Mr. President, order for all the interference to stop". Lots of questions pop up straight away: what is interference, and what is necessary protection or defense, what is unrequested "assistance" and what a requested intervention. Financial costs will not be a minor consideration, either, whether invested into military deployment or withdrawal. And then there is the arms industry, of course, of which the United States, and not only the United States, are very fond. Even my homeland knows how to benefit from it.

Two important pieces of the puzzle are in place, and yet, the question still lacks an unequivocal answer.

The world is about a story, life is about a story. Politics lacks a story, politics does not have a story, which is why it fails.

I have the answer.

The world is ruled by those who tell a story. We, people, tell a story. That is why people, the country's citizens, must reclaim their power and the right to decide on anything.

The dominant ideology must not rule, the prattle of distant elites and vacuous slogans must not be the only thing to be heard.

There must be a debate, carried out at the speed and in the direction determined by facts and arguments arising from civic requirements.

Human nature characterized by remarkable sociability and selflessness, with recognition at the core, must be encouraged.

We must, and you must, Mr. President, start telling a new story.   A story the first step in which is the revival of humanity.

In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was officially proclaimed. This amendment declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." ("13th Amendment"). Up until that point, it was not against the law in many states to hold other human beings in unjust bondage, and exploit them as sources of labor. The passage and ratification of this historical amendment, however, did not end slavery as we knew it.

Modern Slavery, also known as Contemporary Slavery, is a thriving multibillion-dollar industry, harboring an estimated 21 million people, with 5.5 million of those victims being under the age of 18, and nearly 60,000 of these victims existing in the United States ("Statistics and Indicators on Forced Labour"). Contemporary Slavery is the third largest source of income for organized crime, behind the sale of drugs and arms ( "Combating Modern-Day Slavery." ). Today, slavery in not necessarily defined as the actual ownership of human beings, but rather "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion." In addition, this definition of slavery encompasses practices such as debt bondage,  forced marriage, and recruitment and use of child soldiers ("What Is Modern Slavery?" ).  As defined, modern slavery violates Articles 4, 13, 16, and 23 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These articles include human rights such as "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude", and  "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, [and] to just and favourable conditions of work" ("Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations."). It is clear, then, that modern slavery is the most important issue that will be faced by the next President of the United States, and that the President must work to tackle this issue through a multitude of measures, including international cooperation, domestic laws, and readily-accessible programs to make victimhood more visible.

Modern slavery is a serious issue that affects a significant number of people within the United States and around the globe. The President of the United States must address this issue by first attacking portions of the slavery market's business at the source. These sources include sexual exploitation/forced prostitution, private labor exploitations, and state-imposed forced labor ("Statistics and Indicators on Forced Labour").

Combating forced prostitution starts with preventing sexual abuse during the victim's childhood; "90% of women and children who end up as Sex Slaves were victims of childhood sexual abuse before they were recruited." Furthermore, 46% of slaves were "recruited by someone they know."  ("Modern Day Slavery Statistics"). By implementing programs in schools to help victims of sexual abuse become aware of their situation and seek help, and those guilty of abusing children are less likely to be able to recruit their victims as slaves. Furthermore, those that still choose to engage in prostitution should have a regulated system for support, which is why it is imperative that prostitution be legalized and brothels be regulated to undermine the black market of sexual exploitation, and allow those who are engaged in prostitution by force to seek help without fear of criminal charges, as "people who were sexually abused as children are a whopping 27.7 times more likely than others to be arrested for prostitution" ("Childhood Sexual Abuse Often Leads to Prostitution"). Fighting sexual slavery requires that the factors that allow it to happen are eliminated, thus it is necessary to tackle the issue of childhood sexual abuse.

While forced prostitution is a serious problem that must be addressed, there also looms the issue of forced labor, which is oftentimes found in the stages of producing the products that Americans use every day. For example, Apple has come under intense scrutiny regarding the use of bonded labor in the manufacture of its products. There have been efforts to combat such issues in supply chains: In 2010, California implemented laws that required large businesses to report on their efforts to combat slavery in their supply chains. ("Everywhere in (supply) Chains; Modern Slavery"). The President must take this a step further, by implementing regulatory bodies that examine businesses of all scales, on a national level, in order to ensure that goods and services do not bring business to the slave industry, rewarding businesses who comply and take efforts to fight slavery, and imposing harsh penalties on companies that repeatedly fail to eliminate slave labor from their supply chains. By doing so, companies are rewarded for their efforts to create fairly produced products, and are dissuaded from using unethical means of production to cut costs. On an international level, the President must make efforts to encourage other nations, especially developing nations, to support ethical manufacturing and combat slavery within their nations. Although the imposition of sanctions may be viewed as controversial, economic or diplomatic sanctions against countries who continue to allow slavery in business can prove to be powerful and persuasive. These efforts have the potential to make a significant impact on the reduction of slave labor in the United States and worldwide.

Finally, forced marriage remains one of the more difficult forms of slavery to combat. It is a difficult challenge because it involves working along cultural lines, as in many cultures, the non-consensual marriage of girls and women is considered normal, raising the question of "whether practices considered normal in many societies can or should be condemned internationally as slavery," and calling into question "whether or not a universal standard of human rights can apply to all societies" ("Slavery, Contemporary Forms of."). The President of the United States should work to encourage societal change in these countries, as the oppression of women within these cultures may be considered normal, but must be deemed unethical. The United States can offer aid or other incentives to countries that choose to reduce rates of forced marriage. To combat forced marriage further, The President must impose strict sanctions on countries within the United Nations that allow for forced marriage to occur, as such allowances violate Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses" ("Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations"). This is especially imperative regarding China, where "women and girls are kidnapped and then sold as wives." Unfortunately, many of these women and girls are uneducated about their rights, and thus take little action to seek help ("Slavery, Contemporary Forms of"). Encouraging China to educate its populace on their rights and where to seek help should they violated will help to bring greater resistance to kidnapping and forced marriage. Forced marriage, while a serious issue within the realm of human rights and modern slavery, is a problem that can be solved through diplomacy and cooperation.

The next President of the United States will be faced with a myriad of challenges, and contemporary slavery is one that cannot be ignored. Modern slavery is an issue that is rarely discussed, yet affects so many people worldwide. Slavery today comes in many forms, making it an issue that must be attacked from different angles. By breaking the concept of modern slavery down into its different forms, they can be individually analyzed and attacked more effectively. On the domestic level, it is important that the next President pay greater attention to preventing childhood sexual abuse, as reducing these incidents will in turn reduce the rate of forced prostitution. It is also important that the President make efforts to incentivize the removal of slavery from the supply chains of many industries. By doing so, businesses will see rewards for their efforts, and businesses that employ slave labor will see their profits severely reduced, shrinking the market for forced labor as a result. Building on this strategy, the President must take the fight against slavery beyond our borders, attacking forced labor in countries that are involved in U.S. businesses through diplomatic means. The next President must also tackle issues such as forced marriage and child soldier recruitment by imposing significant punishment through various forms of sanctions on countries that fail to prevent these practices from occurring.  This is no easy task, but with strong diplomacy, education, and domestic efforts, the crisis of contemporary slavery can be tackled, positively affecting the lives of millions of victims.

The situation in Syria, along with the accompanying refugee crisis, is the most severe impediment on human rights that the United States is dealing with. There are more than 9 million Syrian refugees and displaced people -- currently the largest refugee crisis in the world.”^[1] From deplorable conditions in refugee camps to dangerous journeys across land and sea, the protection of human rights is in shambles. This is an international crisis, even though only nations in Europe are currently being directly affected. The next president of the United States will have to take action on this extreme violation of human rights.

Human rights were first defined by the United Nations in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNHR) following the atrocities that had occurred during the Holocaust and World War II.^[2] The rights guaranteed in this declaration are universal and indivisible; in other words, they are guaranteed to everyone, and each one is equally important. This declaration means that UN member states are committing themselves to the protection of human rights, providing all people with “a life of human dignity.”^[3] These rights include the right to “life, liberty, and security of person”; the right to a nationality; the “right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution”; and the guarantee that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” among many other rights.^[4] In Syria and the places the refugees are fleeing to, many of the rights set forth and guaranteed in this document are being violated.

Syrians have no one to protect them; they are in an extremely vulnerable position because they have no country that is able to look out for them. A civil war is raging within the country, as a plethora of rebel groups battle the authoritative Assad, who is known for his human rights abuses. War crimes are rampant within the nation; there is evidence that all parties in the conflict have committed these, including rape, murder, torture, and enforced disappearances. Civilian suffering is used as a method of war. Furthermore, chemical weapons have been fired on innocent Syrian citizens.^[5]

These horrible violations of human rights have resulted in a mass exodus of Syrians hoping to make it to Europe. However, the situation in overwhelmed Europe is not much better. Appalling conditions in refugee camps are in blatant violation of basic human rights. A senior Greek politician described how “refugees in Europe are living in conditions comparable to Nazi concentration camps.” Idomeni is one such camp on Greece’s border with Macedonia. It is overstuffed and has people living in terrible conditions. Though the camp was intended to hold just 2,500 people, it actually holds around 12,000 refugees in “wet, cold, and muddy conditions.”^[6] It has only increased in size after Macedonia closed its border. A baby was washed by its parents in a puddle; living conditions consist mainly of “tents in swathes of mud”; health workers warn of an imminent health crisis. According to the United Nations, there is a shortage of “food, shelter, water and sanitation in the tent city.”^[7] Clearly, the horrid conditions of these camps are in violation of even the most basic human rights. The journey away from their country of origin and attempt to enter Europe is also grueling and dangerous. In 2015, more than 3,770 migrants were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean.^[8] Many make the journey in flimsy dinghies or unsafe fishing boats.

The United States, as a member of the United Nations and as a moral member of the international community, will have to address this issue now and in the coming years. The President of the United States should begin by increasing the number of refugees the United States is taking in. This can be done by encouraging Congress to accept more refugees or through Executive Order. This does not necessarily mean that the President should decrease the security of our own country: immigration can continue to have strict checks on the people entering our country. We have the moral obligation to support these refugees. They no longer have a country that is willing to protect them; instead, their government has turned against them, employing chemical bombs on its own citizens.

A safe zone could be established for the refugees near the Syrian border. Consequently, instead of having to travel extensive distances over dangerous routes, spending their entire lives’ savings, in hopes of reaching Europe, Syrian refugees could travel a much shorter distance to a safe zone right on the border of the country. The next president should take several actions in order to bring this proposal into reality: first, he must encourage increased monetary support to provide humanitarian aid.^[9] In addition, the president will have the diplomatic responsibility to ensure the safety of this area. This would involve negotiations with Russia and the rebel groups to make this a “no fly zone.” Thus, western countries will no longer be overwhelmed with an influx of refugees who have risked their lives only to be turned away at the border. Instead, these refugees will have a secure place to stay while the civil war rages on.

This issue could also be addressed with a grassroots approach, trying to solve the issue in Syria itself. The migrant crisis is the result of human rights violations in Syria; addressing these issues at the roots will ultimately be the best solution. In the short term, the United States should provide asylum to these refugees and work with other countries to create a safe zone. In the long-term, we can hope to end the intense violence plaguing Syria and establish peace, so Syrians will no longer be prosecuted by their own country.

A combination of increased acceptance of refugees, creation of a safe zone, and long-term diplomacy on the part of the next US president will help to resolve the Syrian crisis. Only these multi-faceted approaches will be able to resolve the abominable human rights abuses that are currently occurring as a result of the Syrian Civil War.