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UNCITRAL

How a documentary film can help UNCITRAL Working Group III think through ISDS reform
12-Apr-2024 EJIL:Talk!
A documentary film offers a powerful illustration of the ways in which ISDS can impact third parties, exacerbate inequalities, and reinforce power imbalances.
ISDS regime could choke climate action in emerging economies, experts say
21-Feb-2024 Global Trade Review
The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system could be putting climate action at risk in emerging and developing economies as investors in fossil fuel projects angle for compensation, experts say.
International Chamber of Commerce former arbitrator says ISDS has “lost battle of public opinion” and “legitimacy”
1-Feb-2024 AFTINET
To maintain the system, he proposes that business should shift away from ISDS in state-to state trade and investment agreements, and instead move to ISDS in contracts between individual investors and states.
Uncitral Working Group III reaches notable milestones in recent New York meeting
2-May-2023 Mondaq
United Nations Commission on International Trade Law ("UNCITRAL" or "Commission") Working Group III finalized provisions on the use of mediation in ISDS.
India asks 68 countries to renegotiate bilateral investment pacts, Rajya Sabha told
20-Mar-2023 Times of India
India has issued termination notices to 68 countries for Bilateral Investment Treaties with a request to renegotiate on the basis of the model agreement formulated in 2015.
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.
Mustaqeem de Gama, South African Mission in Geneva: “It is a bad idea for any African country to consider signing the Energy Charter Treaty”
23-Feb-2021 Investigate Europe
Joining the Energy Charter Treaty is not in the public interest, according to South Africa’s government. It has also cancelled other agreements that allowed foreign investors to sue their state. This has not stopped investors from coming, says Mustaqeem de Gama.
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
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.
Appeal in ISDS: Appealing for the host state?
28-Feb-2020 South Centre
The basis of a claim in ISDS is always the applicable international investment agreement. There would always be differences and inconsistencies with an appellate mechanism.
Letter from Africa CSOs and trade unions to African delegates at the UNCITRAL round
31-Jan-2020
We civil society organizations and trade unions from the African continent express our concerns about the proposal presented by the European Union to establish a multilateral investment court and support further reaching reforms of ISDS.
ISDS reform: Designing permanent institutions at Working Group III
27-Jan-2020 IELP
The UNCITRAL Working Group III turned squarely to designing permanent institutions: a standing appellate mechanism and a multilateral investment court (MIC).
The US drops ISDS
27-Jan-2020 The Globalist
The US government used to be the chief proponent of strong investor protection clauses in international trade deals. No longer. What happened?
UNCITRAL Working Group III: Promoting alternatives to investor–state arbitration as ISDS reform
14-Oct-2019 IISD
Several states participating in the UNCITRAL process have already adopted viable alternatives to ISDS.
Weapons of legal destruction: ISDS lawsuits and Lydian International’s assault on Armenian sovereignty
24-Sep-2019 CADTM
The signing of an investment treaty involves a unilateral loss of sovereignty on the part of the host state, which is ultimately deemed necessary to attract foreign capital.
UN reform needed to stop companies fighting climate rules: Nobel laureate Stiglitz
29-May-2019 Reuters
Multinational companies will increasingly file massive cases against host countries when climate change policies affect their profits, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said.
We the people reject ISDS. So why are our governments trying to expand it?
9-Apr-2019 Stop ISDS
A permanent Multilateral Investment Court pushed by the European Union could make ISDS worse by scaling it up.
As the world meets to discuss ISDS, many fear meaningless reforms
8-Apr-2019 TNI
ISDS lawyers appear to hold administrative positions within the working group and are represented in large numbers in the advisory bodies that have been established for the working group.
Sharpening clash as UN body reviews investor rights to sue governments (ISDS)
8-Apr-2019 AFTINET
Advocates of ISDS (industrialised countries and lawyers from the ‘arbitration industry’) dominate the running of the Working Group and its advisory bodies. Civil society is underrepresented.