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UNCITRAL

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.
Trump’s damaged NAFTA deal
5-Apr-2019 The American Prospect
USMCA bears many resemblances to NAFTA, which has been cited as a driver of low-wage corporate outsourcing.
The limitations of the UNCITRAL process on ISDS reform
30-Oct-2018 SOMO
The UNCITRAL process runs a real risk of producing middle-ground solutions that will fail to address the fundamental flaws of the ISDS system and will only further institutionalise and re-legitimise the system.
More than 300 civil society organizations from 73 countries urge fundamental reform at UNCITRAL’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement discussions
30-Oct-2018
More than 300 civil society groups and trade unions urged governments participating in United Nations meetings in Vienna to completely overhaul the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system.
Swiss foreign investor claims it suffered US$264 million in damages caused by South Korean government
2-Aug-2018 Hankyoreh
This is the fourth ISDS dispute this year in which the South Korean government is embroiled.
Corporate lawyers hijack UN meeting, while civil society is sidelined
28-May-2018 Truthout
The takeaway from the UNCITRAL’s process for its so-called "reform" discussions is that lawyers making millions in ISDS cases are welcomed, while the voices of the millions of people whose lives are harmed by ISDS cases brought by multinational corporations are barely an afterthought.
UN agrees to start work on multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement
12-Jul-2017 European Commission
The United Nations has agreed to initiate work on possible multilateral reform of investment dispute settlement including the possible establishment of a multilateral investment court.