Book Club: Building a Just World Order with Alfred de Zayas
Register here.
In October 2022, World BEYOND War will be holding a weekly discussion each of four weeks of Building a Just World Order with the author Alfred de Zayas
as part of a small group WBW book club limited to a group of 18
participants. We will send each participant an epub or PDF or paperback.
We'll let you know which parts of the book will be discussed each week
along with the Zoom details to access the discussions.
When: For one hour on four Mondays, October 3, 10,
17, 24, 2022. The time is 19:00 UTC (similar to GMT), 9 am in Honolulu,
noon in Los Angeles, 2 pm in Mexico City, 3 pm in New York, 8 pm in
London, 10 pm in Moscow.
Register here.
Where: Zoom (details to be shared upon registration)
This is a small group series with limited space of up to 18 people.
Sign up to reserve your spot and allow for enough time to receive the
book. We look forward to reading and discussing this important book with
you!
Register here.
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.
Register here.
About the Book:
This book just won the 2022 International Book Award in the category of law.
A democratic and equitable international order is possible.
Humanity needs this enforceable rules-based order for sustainable
development and the welfare of future generations.
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 and the 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.
Register here.
Reviews:
"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
Register here.
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