Disclosures about the magnitude of covert State surveillance and well-known examples of intimidation of human rights defenders shock the conscience a… - Alfred-Maurice de Zayas

The unfair composition of the Security Council is largely acknowledged. The principal defects are the anachronistic privileges of the five permanent members of the Council and the Council’s insufficient representativeness.

A true “democracy summit” can and should be convened by the UN and be all-inclusive, based on multilateralism and sovereign equality. ... In 2005 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter. the UN World Summit ended with its “outcome document” unanimously adopted as General Assembly Resolution 60/1, which reaffirms “that democracy is a universal value based on the freely expressed will of people to determine their own political, economic, social and cultural systems and their full participation in all aspects of their lives.” Most importantly, contrary to the U.S. claim to hold a patent on democracy, the international community agreed that, “while democracies share common features, there is no single model of democracy, that it does not belong to any country or region,” and reaffirmed the necessity of due respect for the sovereignty of states and the right of self-determination of peoples.

To the extent that bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements lead to violations of human rights, they should be modified or terminated