My books

BUILDING A JUST WORLD ORDER

Buy your copy from Clarity Press: https://www.claritypress.com/product/building-a-just-world-order/

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 represents the findings of Dr. Alfred de Zayas, the first mandate-holder (2012-2018).

Zayas proposes concrete reforms of the UN system, notably the Security Council, and advocates recognition of peace as a human right, self-determination as a conflict-prevention measure, slashing military expenditures, reversing the adverse impacts of World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies, rendering free-trade agreements compatible with human rights, abolishing tax havens and ISDS, 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.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: 

“I hope that this book will be of great utility in the promotion and protection of human rights.”

MICHELLE BACHELET, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

“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. ”

MARIA FERNANDA ESPINOSA, President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, 2018-19

“An almanac of world order and international law, covering some of the most crucial issues of our time…”

HANS KOECHLER, Professor emeritus of Philosophy, University of Innsbruck; President, International Progress Organization, Vienna 2018-19

“Zayas proposes a new functional paradigm of human rights for all.”

PROFESSOR DR. CARLOS CORREA,  University of Buenos Aires, Executive Director of South Centre

“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

“This lucid, hands-on, independent, pragmatic study is a mode d’emploi for achieving a rules-based international order under the UN Charter.”

PROFESSOR CARLOS VILLÁN 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

COUNTERING MAINSTREAM NARRATIVES: Fake News, Fake Law, Fake Freedom

Buy your copy from Clarity Press: https://www.claritypress.com/product/countering-mainstream-narratives-fake-news-fake-law-fake-freedomcountering-the-mainstream-narratives-fake-news-fake-law-fake-freedom/

In this collection of essays, former UN Independent Expert on International Order, Professor Alfred de Zayas, takes mainstream disinformation, fake news, censorship and self-censorship head-on. Stressing the importance of access to information and to a genuinely pluralistic spectrum of views as indispensable to every functioning democracy, de Zayas provides an insightful counter-narrative, shedding light on the key issues facing humanity today.

WHAT OTHERS SAY: 

“Alfred de Zayas is a precious resource of humanity as displayed in this wonderfully lucid collection of essays on the afflictions of our time. With the wisdom of a seer and the knowledge of a world class jurist de Zayas is an authoritative voice of reason and equity in this precarious period of dangerous warmongering untruths. Don’t weep, read and then act.”
RICHARD FALK, Former UN Special Rapporteur and Prof. Emeritus, Princeton University

“The ugliness of official lies and suppression of truth in our times is a serious threat to the possibility of a democratic society. Alfred de Zayas’ book is a vigil for a society where press freedom means more than the freedom to buy the press and to lie without restraint.”

VIJAY PRASHAD, Professor of International Studies, Trinity College, Executive-director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research

“A must read for anyone wanting to create a socially just world constructed from a holistic vision of  the interdependency and indivisibility of human rights, this book is truly a tour de force.” 

DR. JOSEPH WRONKA, Representative to the UN in New York, International Association of Schools of Social Work 

“A book every peace and human rights activist needs. The intrepid de Zayas beats new paths , demonstrates why honest media is essential to democratic governance and illustrates how indispensable academic freedom and courage are to every democracy.” 

FREDRIK S. HEFFERMEHL, Norwegian jurist, former vice-president of the International Peace Bureau (IPB), founding member of the Lay Down Your Arms Association

“Alfred de Zayas empowers readers to consume the mainstream media ‘wise as serpents’ (Jesus Christ, Matthew 10:16) and to see through Fake News, Fake Law and Fake Freedom. This immaculately documented book is at the same time informative, philosophical, concise, clever and amusing.” 

PROF. HARRO VON SENGER,  Ph.D., D.J., Swiss jurist

“An honest book that appeals to reason in dealing with diplomacy, peace, and war. Erudite and endlessly quotable, even aphoristic, this book champions academic freedom and the right to seek and impart information.”

PROF. DR. ALEXANDRE LAMBERT, Geneva, expert in multilateral organizations and international security

THE HUMAN RIGHTS INDUSTRY (FORTHCOMING)

Buy your copy from Clarity Press: https://www.claritypress.com/product/human-rights-industry/

The promotion and protection of human rights is a pillar of the United Nations, enshrined in the Charter, the international bill of rights,  General Assembly resolutions and declarations, and buttressed by monitoring mechanisms, expert committees and regional human rights courts. After WWII the world demanded respect for collective and individual rights and freedoms, including the right to live in peace, i.e. freedom from fear and want, the right to food, water, health, shelter, belief and expression. Human dignity was understood as an inalienable entitlement of every member of the human family, rights that were juridical, justiciable and enforceable.

Drawing on more than four decades of working in the field of human rights as UN staff member, rapporteur, consultant, member of UN expert panels, professor and NGO president, Alfred de Zayas examines how the tools of implementation of human rights serve to entrench political narratives promoted by the “industry”.

UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE CASE LAW 1977-2008

The up-to-date handbook, 630-pages with annexes, index, N.P.Engel, Kehl and Strasbourg, hardcover · ISBN 978-3-88357-144-7 · 2009 email: n.p.engel@eugrz.info

The first Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, Andreas Mavrommatis, wrote a fine preface for the handbook.

The book was formally presented at a reception on 15 July 2009 at the Château de Penthes in Geneva, attended by many members of the Human Rights Committee, including the new Chairperson and the former Chairperson Christine Chanet, who spoke on behalf of the Committee.

“I was pleased to have had the opportunity to draft the foreword for this important book.  Jakob and Alfred are my friends and I congratulate them on their achievement. What distinguishes this book from others is that it is authentic.  It was written by the two Secretariat members who accompanied our work since day one, two devoted lawyers who with constancy and competence assisted the Committee experts through the creation of rules of procedure and guidelines that enabled us to create solid jurisprudence.  Their outstanding drafting ability, legal acuity and multilingualism  proved invaluable to us.  The continued support of the UN Secretariat is one of the strengths of the Committee.  Of course, the centre of our work has always been the common dignity of all human beings, our commitment to help real persons whose rights have been violated.  The bottom line is enforcement and that is why the function of the Special Rapporteur on Follow-Up is so important.  I remember the successes we attained during our follow-up visit to Jamaica in June 1995…  We are on our way to a World Court on Human Rights!”

First review by the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan, in the UN Special of June 2009, pp. 18-19.

“It is staggering how much the Human Rights Committee has influenced the human rights jurisprudence of the world, as is striking from reading this exceedingly important book…. From the outset of its work in 1977 there have been two Secretariat pioneers in developing the case law of the Committee when it considers petitions from individuals claiming violations of their rights: Jakob Möller (Iceland) and Alfred de Zayas (USA). Möller was the first Chief of the Petitions branch of what is today the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and de Zayas was his colleague, who eventually succeeded him as Chief. …Every lawyer, every judge, every public-spirited citizen will want to consult this fascinating book, because it tells us what is legally right and legally wrong, how to judge our governments, our societies, our United Nations and ourselves.”

During the 100th session celebration of the Human Rights Committee on 29 October 2010 in Room XXI at the UN,  Ramcharan highly recommended the book. See http://vimeo.com/16823400

Review in February 2010 issue of the Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 237-240:

“This is not yet another book about the Human Rights Committee. This is the most authentic book available, written by insiders who were there from the start — Justice Jakob Th. Möller (Iceland), former Chief of the Communications Branch at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and his successor in this function, Alfred de Zayas (US), who was also Secretary of the Committee. Whereas other excellent books like those of Sarah Joseph and Manfred Nowak give us good commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its mechanisms, the Möller and de Zayas book is unique in that it gives the reader the feeling of being there. It is thorough, user-friendly, and indispensable for practitioners and students.”

Review in Oxford University’s Refugee Survey Quarterly, July 2010, volume 29, No. 1, pp. 206-207:

https://academic.oup.com/rsq/article-abstract/29/1/206/1545240?redirectedFrom=fulltext

“This important case law handbook should be present in every United Nations office that directly or indirectly deals with victims of human rights violations, including refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrant workers. Human rights advocates and refugee officers will find it most useful.”