Document Type
Report/Policy Paper
Publication Date
6-2019
Abstract
In its current form, the international investment treaty regime may stymie the business and human rights agenda in various ways. The regime may incentivize governments to favour the protection of investors over the protection of human rights. Investment treaty standards enforced through investor-state arbitration risk adversely affecting access to justice for project-affected rights holders. More broadly, the regime contributes to a system of global economic governance that elevates and rewards investors’ actions and expectations, irrespective of whether they have adhered to their responsibilities to respect human rights. Without comprehensive reform, investment treaties and investor-state arbitration will continue to interfere with realization of human rights and broader public interest objectives.
This Chapter provides an overview of the interaction between human rights law and the investment treaty regime. It highlights the challenges that arise from tension between international human rights and investment norms, including the impact of the investment regime on the ability of host states to regulate and on access to justice for investment-affected rights holders. The chapter also explores whether and how human rights issues have been addressed by the investment regime to date, highlighting recent developments in treaty drafting practice and responses to human rights argumentation by investment tribunals. It notes the shortcomings of current approaches, and concludes by briefly setting out options for reform.
Disciplines
Business Organizations Law | Human Rights Law | International Humanitarian Law | International Law | International Trade Law | Law | Law and Economics | Transnational Law
Recommended Citation
Jesse Coleman, Kaitlin Y. Cordes & Lise Johnson,
Human Rights Law and the Investment Treaty Regime,
(2019).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sustainable_investment_staffpubs/3
Included in
Business Organizations Law Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Law Commons, International Trade Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Transnational Law Commons
Comments
This is a draft chapter. The final version will be available in Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business edited by Surya Deva and David Birchall, 2020, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher, and is for private use only.