- Faculty Type
- Core Teaching Faculty
- Expertise Areas
- Conflict, Security & Peace Global Governance Humanitarian Action International Law & Public Policy
- Professional Experience
-
- Professor of International Law and History, Geneva School of Diplomacy
- United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order (2012–2018)
- Senior Lawyer, United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva
- Secretary, UN Human Rights Committee
- Chief, Petitions Department, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Visiting Professor at universities in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland
- President, PEN International Centre Suisse romand
- Education
-
- Juris Doctor (J.D.), Harvard University
- Doctorate in History, University of Göttingen, Germany
- Contact
- External Profile
Biography
Dr. Alfred-Maurice de Zayas is Professor of International Law and History at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. He has served as visiting professor at numerous universities in the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland.
From 2012 to 2018, he served as the United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, producing fourteen reports for the United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, including the formulation of the “25 Principles of International Order.”
Between 1980 and 2003, Dr. de Zayas worked as a senior lawyer with the United Nations Human Rights Office in Geneva, where he served as Secretary of the UN Human Rights Committee and Chief of the Petitions Department.
He studied history and law at Harvard University, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree, and later completed a doctorate in history at the University of Göttingen in Germany.
Dr. de Zayas is the author of numerous books and scholarly publications on international law, human rights, genocide studies, self-determination, and global governance. His works include Building a Just World Order (Clarity Press, 2021), The Genocide against the Armenians, and United Nations Human Rights Committee Case Law.
He has published extensively on issues including the Armenian genocide, the right of self-determination, international peace, and human rights enforcement, and has spoken before institutions including the European Parliament.
Dr. de Zayas has also held leadership roles within PEN International Centre Suisse romand, serving as President from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017.