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. 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”.

“Alfred de Zayas offers us an invaluable insider’s account of how the global system created after World War II to protect human rights is brazenly manipulated by the United States Government and others for geopolitical ends.  De Zayas is a human rights leader of remarkable insight, experience, wisdom, and integrity, whose account is both searing and hugely constructive.  He makes vividly clear why we must, and how we can, truly champion peace and human rights.”   JEFFREY D. SACHS, University Professor at Columbia University

CLARITY PRESS, INC.

Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is a former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (2012-18), 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. Zayas grew up in Chicago, studied history and law, holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Dr. phil. in modern history from the University of Göttingen. He was a Fulbright Graduate Fellow in Germany. Retired member of the New York and Florida Bar, author of 9 books and more than 200 scholarly articles. President of PEN International, Centre Suisse romand 2006-9 and again 2013-17. He is a winner of a 2022 International Book Award for his book, Building a Just World Order, in the category of Law.