(i) Report of the Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order
After 6 years working as UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, Mr. Alfred de Zayas concludes with a report outlining 23 principles of international order.
During his mandate, Mr. de Zayas wrote 13 thematic reports and one country report. Back from a mission in Venezuela, the first one by a UN Official since 1996, he will elucidate what is happening on the ground and formulate possible solutions to the economic crisis. Mr. de Zayas will also touch upon the human right to peace, self-determination, military expenditures, tax havens, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Idriss Jazairy has been the Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures since 2015 and has submitted to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly reports on the adverse impacts of sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights. Sanctions can be seen as geopolitical crimes and amount to crimes against humanity when they cause massive deaths because of malnutrition and lack of access to medicines. Idriss Jazairy is a champion of multilateralism and international solidarity.
Bideoa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k5FBF2tD_Q&feature=youtu.be&a=
(ii) Epigram for May 2018
(https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/epigram-for-may-2018/)
“Getting away with it” does not render blatant aggression any less criminal. The prevailing impunity of the powerful does not legalize their crimes. Fake news and fake law ultimately will not prevail. Geopolitical crimes such as economic sanctions that cause the death of children from malnutrition or of adults from lack of medicines are really crimes against humanity. The intellectually dishonest practice of invoking “humanitarian intervention” as a pretext to impose regime change does not generate any legal precedent — ex injuria non oritur jus– nor make the aggression somehow “legitimate”. Of course, the rule of law and international order are wounded — but they are not killed. Punishment still awaits the offenders whenever the International Criminal Court is prepared to take the Rome statute seriously and to prosecute the big fish and not just defeated enemies or ousted politicians. Neither “exceptionalism” nor “legal black holes” are compatible with the international human rights treaty regime. Aggression remains the ultimate crime, because it leads to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Yet, the merchants of death in the military-industrial-financial complex love war and profits.
