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ISDS reform

States must stop prioritizing investment over human rights – UN experts
15-Oct-2021 OHCHR
UN experts today called on States to ensure that international investment agreements do not provide a “safe harbour” for investors to abuse the human rights of individuals and communities.
Investor-state arbitration and the ’next generation’ of investment treaties
15-Oct-2021 Lexology
Investor–state arbitration has grown over the years to become one of the most dynamic and controversial features of international investment law.
One big, expensive, avoidable reason why governments won’t take action on climate change
23-Aug-2021 Rabble.ca
As governments try to phase out coal and leave fossil fuels in the ground, lawsuits from industry investors are starting to pile up around them.
South’s concerns over ISDS reform process need to be addressed
10-Aug-2021 Third World Network
The broad mandate given by UNCITRAL focuses on a limited set of procedural issues that fails to address the substantive concerns over the crisis of legitimacy confronting the international investment regime, and ISDS more specifically.
Imran okays new bilateral investment treaty template
13-Jul-2021 Dawn
Pakistan Prime Minister has approved the new Bilateral Investment Treaty template whereby any dispute will now be remedied through local arbitration.
Conquering EU courts? Big business lobbies in secret for new legal privileges in the EU
29-Jun-2021 CEO
Business lobby groups started lobbying the European Commission to create a new parallel justice system, similar to the old intra-EU BITs, but compatible with EU law.
Nigerian govt asked not to ascent to Energy Charter Treaty
23-Jun-2021 Leadership
Nigerian labour unions and civil society organizations have urged the government not to assent to the ECT, explaining that the Treaty contains provisions for an Investor-State Dispute System (ISDS), which accords investors obscene privileges.
Regaining sovereignty
26-Apr-2021 Dawn
Pakistan, which entered into its first BIT with Germany in 1959 — which also was the first BIT ever entered — has concluded 53 BITs with 48 countries.
Sovereign states on a leash
1-Apr-2021 The Mint
The overreach on display in the aggressive use of ISDS lawsuits by multinational corporations is just one part of a broader trend in recent decades in which the ability of states to regulate their economies in their own interests.
PTI govt has not signed or ratified any BIT as yet
8-Feb-2021 Business Recorder
Sources said that the government will have its own template for a BIT, which will replace the existing treaties with different countries.
EU-Canada FTA (CETA): investment court texts (Jan 2021)
1-Feb-2021 European Commission
The EU and Canada adopt rules putting in place the CETA investment court
1-Feb-2021 European Commission
The EU and Canada adopted four decisions putting in place the Investment Court System provisions agreed in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Pakistan seeks to reform int’l investment regime
3-Nov-2020 The Express Tribune
Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved the formation of a working group of experts for reforming Pakistan’s international investment regime.
Investor-State Dispute Settlement reform: the multilateral investment court was never the answer
27-Oct-2020 Michigan Journal of International Law
The problem with the ISDS is not the format of the dispute settlement. The problem is that it is designed to give corporations power to go after government policies.
What next for ISDS Reform at UNCITRAL Working Group III?
23-Oct-2020 TWN
Meaningful reform aligned with sustainable development seems less likely
Expropriating democracy: on the right and legitimacy of not ratifying CETA
21-Oct-2020 EJIL: Talk!
Why retain ISDS, this neo-colonial vestige that is not supported by consistent evidence that it contributes to advancing development or the rule of law?
Japan backs ISDS in fierce debate at Energy Charter Treaty review
17-Sep-2020 AFTINET
A written submission from Japan published by the ECT secretariat rejected language on the “right to regulate” and changes to the investor-state dispute resolution mechanism.
Sovereign rights to natural resources as a basis for denouncing international adjudication of investment disputes: A reflection on the Tanzanian approach
11-Sep-2020 Afronomics Law
Tanzania’s reforms show that the claim that African states should regard ISDS mechanism as the preferred method for resolving investment disputes is not only very contested, but that there are legitimate grounds for those contestations.
Hegemony 101 in international investment law
9-Sep-2020 Afronomics Law
The hegemon aspirants in international investment law have already, and perhaps unwittingly, revealed their three step manual: Disguise, dismiss, divert.
Australian government to review its Bilateral Investment Treaties
3-Sep-2020 Lexology
The Australian Federal Government has announced it is reviewing the bilateral investment treaties (BITs) to which Australia is a party.