[JURIST] A UN expert on Tuesday called on [press release] all nations to ensure that every existing and future trade agreement abides by and endorses all binding human rights treaties and environmental and health goals. In a statement accompanying release of a new report [text, PDF], Alfred de Zayas [official profile], the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, expressed concern that private business enterprises have profited through trade agreements at the expense of human rights. The report introduces the idea of R2A, or responsibility to act in the public interest, which goes beyond the previously well-known R2P [UN backgrounder], or responsibility to protect. De Zayas pointed to the investor-state-dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, Investment Court System and the World Trade Organization dispute settlement mechanism as examples where pro-business bias has caused the sacrifice of human rights in pseudo-courts.

Many contemporary trade agreement issues stem from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was signed in New Zealand [JURIST report] in February and described by de Zayas as a “zombie of ISDS” with many “fundamental flaws.” de Zayas’ concerns on ISDS’ were expressed [JURIST report] in April, where he expressed that they “are incompatible with democracy, the rule of law and human rights.” ISDS mechanisms, which according to Zayas, provide for “privatized or semi-privatized dispute settlement” he warns, work against the public interest and allows calculated risks for profit in accordance with a “ideologically-driven corporate narrative.” In February, de Zayas urged [JURIST report] all nations not to sign the TPP without first “reaffirming … human rights treaty obligations and their recent pledges to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.” However, two days later 12 countries across the Pacific-Rim signed the TPP in New Zealand amid waves of protest.