About the Book
A democratic and equitable international order is possible. Humanity needs this enforceable rules-based order for sustainable development and the welfare of future generations. While inter-governmental organizations like the International Labour Office and the Food and Agriculture Organization have advanced the vision of a just world order and helped fulfil the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter -- promoting peace, development and human rights -- the efforts of the international community have fallen short. In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council created the mandate of the Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order.
This book compiles 14 reports, info notes and comments of Dr. Alfred de Zayas, the first mandate-holder (2012-2018). It formulates 25 principles of international order, defines domestic and international democracy, the right of self-determination of peoples, and a human right to peace. He proposes concrete reforms of the UN system, notably the Security Council andthe functions of the Secretary General, and advocates reversing the adverse impacts of World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies, slashing military expenditures, rendering free-trade agreements compatible with human rights, abolishing tax havens and investor-state-dispute arbitrations, alleviating the foreign debt crisis, criminalizing war-profiteers and pandemic vultures. Zayas denounces unilateral coercive measures, economic sanctions and financial blockades, because they demonstrably have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths -- crimes against humanity under article 7 of the Statute of Rome of the International Criminal Court.
Zayas addresses the right to reliable information, freedom of expression, censorship by governments and private media, proposes a Charter of Rights of Whistleblowers, repudiates the anti-democratic "cancel culture" and demands accountability for crimes against indigenous peoples, ecocide, "extraordinary renditions" and torture in Guantanamo. He formulates pragmatic recommendations to States, international organizations and civil society.
In 2017 before the General Assembly Zayas deplored the implementation gap that renders the UN rapporteurs "an assembly of Cassandras", calling for renewed commitment to ethical politics and the spirituality of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, garnering unprecedented applause from UNGA delegates and NGOs.
About the Author :
Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is a former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (2012-18), former senior lawyer with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee and Chief of the Petitions Department (registrar). Zayas grew up in Chicago, holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D., modern history from University of Gottingen, Fulbright Graduate Fellow in Germany. Retired member of the New York and Florida Bar, author of 9 books and more than 200 scholarly articles. He lives in Geneva.
Review :
"This is not a law book, although it includes numerous reflections on the law. It is not a political science text even though it comments on numerous global problems of international relations, but without an attempt to reconcile these musings into formal methodological confines. It can perhaps best be described as utopian musings about the potential of international law and global political processes. On a whole it suggests what the international community could be if adhered to international law. Moreover, it suggests what the law could be, if, before it's too late, the international community decides to adhere to its professed lofty principles of equality, justice, equity, non-discrimination, self-determination and numerous others that are enumerated in the book. While many would be fearful of authoring a book that both condemns and prescribes, De Zayas has had the courage to write such a book. It is the type of book that every generation needs.'Dr. CURTIS FJ DOEBBLER
"Alfred de Zayas is a gifted human rights lawyer who, alongside Jakob Moller, pioneered the development of UN human rights jurisprudence. He was a dynamic Special Rapporteur, as is evidenced by his Principles for a Democratic and Equitable International Order." --BERTRAND RAMCHARAN, Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 2002-2004
"The 25 Zayas Principles of International Order are a modern Magna Carta. If implemented by the international community, they would help ensure peace with social justice in the 21st century. Pursuant to the UN Charter member States bear responsibility for future generations. Hence, they should take concrete measures to achieve this rules-based order in international solidarity." --Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, 2018-19
"There are many books about human rights and international law, most of them a rehash of what we know. This book goes to the sources of law and justice and proposes pragmatic solutions to many problems, including those of Indigenous Peoples." --SHARON H. VENNE, Notokwew Muskwa Manitokan, Expert in International Law and Indigenous Peoples
"The Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law welcomes this book for its strong advocacy of the human right to peace and solidarity. This lucid, hands-on, independent, pragmatic study is a mode d'emploi for achieving a rules-baded international order under the UN Charter." --Professor CARLOS VILLAN DURAN, President of the Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law
"This multifaceted book proposes a new functional paradigm of human rights, which does away with the artificial division of rights into those of the so-called first, second and third generations, and endorses a holistic approach to all human rights, including the rights to development and the right to peace." --PINO ARLACCHI, Member, European Parliament, and former Director General of the UN Vienna Office
"Zayas proposes a new functional paradigm of human rights for all. His elaboration on principles and on how to apply international law uniformly is a welcome contribution to a necessary debate on the foundations of a just international order." --Professor Dr. Carlos Correa, University of Buenos Aires, Executive Director of South Centre
"Zayas' new book is a timely reminder of the fundamental conditions for a just world order where the human being takes precedence over trade and corporate profits. Humanity needs ethical priorities if it is going to survive. --YASH TANDON, author of Trade is War.
"...an ethical roadmap towards the universal application of the rule of law in the service of human dignity..." Marjolijn Snippe, The Federalist Debate
"A brilliant, radical, courageous and indeed seminal book... In the midst of our civilisational crisis, this
book offers a constructive blueprint for
a humanly desirable future and deserves
the widest possible readership.." - Paradigm Explorer
"This book should appeal to many readers, not only to the "experts". It belongs in every law school and political science department. User-friendly in approach and content, it readily lends itself as a human rights textbook." JOHANNES VAN AGGELEN, Counterpunch
