Alfred de Zayas
| Alfred de Zayas link Amazon (Lawyer, writer, historian) | |
|---|---|
| File:Alfred de Zayas 1.jpg | |
| Born | 31 May 1947 Havana, Cuba |
| Nationality | United States |
American lawyer, writer, historian, a leading expert in the field of human rights | |
Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is an American lawyer, writer, historian, a leading expert in the field of human rights and international law and retired high-ranking United Nations official. Since 2012, he has been the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order (appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council).[1][2]
De Zayas is a professor of international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations,[3] and formerly worked with the United Nations from 1981 to 2003 as a senior lawyer with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,[4] Secretary of the Human Rights Committee,[5] and the Chief of Petitions.[6]
Since his early retirement from the UN in 2003, de Zayas has become a vocal critic of the 2003 Iraq War[7][8] indefinite detention without trial[9] in Guantanamo, secret CIA prisons, nuclear pollution, asymmetric trade and investment agreements, and extreme poverty.[10]
On 24 January 2019, Professor de Zayas said the US was violating international law by attempting a coup in Venezuela:
- "There is nothing more undemocratic than a coup d’état. We should be asking ourselves: Do we want a coup d’état in Venezuela? And what legitimacy would the government of Guaidó have? And what kind of elections would be held? Now, there have been, as I said, 26 or 27 elections in Venezuela since 1998. And President Jimmy Carter went repeatedly to Venezuela to monitor those elections. And Carter had a very good opinion of the system and of the safeguards of elections in Venezuela. So, if the opposition really considers itself democratic, it has to play the democratic game, and it has to participate in the elections. They have chosen to boycott the elections over the last years."[11]
References
- ↑ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12011&LangID=E
- ↑ Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ohchr.org; accessed 14 December 2015.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070928201550/http://www.genevadiplomacy.com/?menu_id=6&page_id=15&full=1&faculty_id=24
- ↑ A. de Zayas "Human Rights, United Nations High Commissioner for" in H. Volger (ed.) Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations, Kluwer, the Hague, 2002, pp. 217–23, reviewed by Ruth Wedgwood in the American Journal of International Law, vol. 99, pp. 284–87, at 285;
- ↑ Excerpts from the 100th session of the Human Rights Committee on Vimeo
- ↑ A. de Zayas, "United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights" in Rudolf Bernhardt (ed.) Encyclopaedia of Public International Law, Vol. 4, 2000, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 1129–32
- ↑ https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article495133/Dieser-Krieg-ist-voelkerrechtswidrig.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110606031312/http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=4041#453084534
- ↑ http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/review-857-p15
- ↑ http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16745&LangID=E
- ↑ "Former UN Expert: The US Is Violating International Law by Attempting a Coup in Venezuela"