Alfred-Maurice de Zayas Quotes

Never must the courts become instruments of injustice. Never should they lend themselves to the execution of manifestly unjust investor-State dispute settlement awards.

The regulatory chill caused by the mere existence of investor-State dispute settlements has effectively dissuaded many States from adopting much-needed health and environmental protection measures.

There is no need to adopt more “free trade agreements”, which are asymmetrical agreements providing privileges to investors but no enforceable obligations.

The role of parliaments is crucial in ensuring human rights protection while promoting trade.

Surely the Council did not intend to convene an assembly of Cassandras when it established the Special Procedures.

The path to a democratic and equitable order is through the expansion of public courts, not the creation of private courts with questionable transparency, accountability or independence.

A just, peaceful, equitable and democratic world order must not be undermined by the activities of investors, speculators and transnational enterprises avid for immediate profit at the expense of social and economic progress.

It is high time to mainstream human rights into all trade agreements and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and regulations, so that trade representatives and dispute-settlers know that trade is neither a “stand alone” regime not an end in itself.

Investors and transnational enterprises have invented new rules to suit their needs, rules that impinge on the regulatory space of States and disenfranchise the public.

Parliaments that do not genuinely represent, but act as if they had a blank check for x number of years lose their legitimacy.

Direct democracy is undoubtedly one of the most efficient, reliable and transparent methods to determine the will of the people.

Direct, participatory and responsive democracy has been shown to be conducive to achieving a more just world order. Only such an approach will allow progressing from predator societies to human rights oriented societies.

Democracy means a genuine correlation between the will of the people and legislation and policies that affect them, be it domestic or international.

Democracy must be lived and practiced every day. It entails much more than periodic voting, which in many cases is only pro forma, in the absence of public influence on the choice of candidates and scarce possibility of policy change.

States have the sacred duty to ensure peace, while individuals and peoples have the right to peace.