Alfred de Zayas is a former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (2012-18), former 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 (registrar).For more than two decades he inter-acted with experts, diplomats, and civil society. De Zayas holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School. and a Ph.D., modern history from University of Gottingen, Fulbright Graduate Fellow in Germany. He is author of 9 books and more than 200 scholarly articles.