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AN INTRODUCTION TO IISD'S ECONOMIC LAW AND POLICY PROGRAM
The overarching objective of IISD's Economic Law and Policy Program is to reform economic policies in order to advance sustainable and equitable development. Our geographically and intellectually diverse team of experts work to enhance the capacities of developing country officials, develop evidence-based policy options, expand the overall understanding of critical issues and push for systemic reforms.
Our work is focused on investment law and policy, mining, agricultural investment, public procurement and infrastructure finance and voluntary sustainability standards.
In this newsletter we would like to highlight some recent projects, publications and events. We welcome your feedback and the opportunity to engage with you further.
Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder
Group Director, Economic Law and Policy Program
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ZAMBIAN VILLAGERS WIN RIGHT TO SUE MINING COMPANY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Zambian villagers seeking redress against a polluting copper mine won a significant victory when the United Kingdom Court of Appeal ruled that British courts have jurisdiction to hear their case against the UK-based mine owner.
It is frequently a problem for victims in developing countries to get redress for damages caused by multinational corporations. Often, the only option for victims is to bring the case to a local court. Unfortunately, the local entity of the transnational corporation may no longer exist or have limited assets in-country. It is therefore important to have access to courts in the "home" country of the parent company.
IISD has been developing innovative approaches to investment law and policy for over 15 years. The role of home state courts for transnational investments in civil cases was first incorporated in the 2005 IISD Model Investment Agreement for Sustainable Development.
This problem was also at the heart of recent discussions at a United Nations meeting on transnational corporations and human rights.
For more information, please read our blog on the implications of the case and visit our investment topic page.
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ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF INVESTMENT TREATIES
We recently published a scoping study which provides an overview and assessment of existing evidence of the impact of investment treaties. The focus is on the costs and benefits of investment treaties from the perspective of developing countries.
We concluded that investment treaties probably do lead to a modest increase in some types of foreign direct investment to developing countries. However, it is difficult to consistently identify this effect or to pinpoint the relevant elements of treaties that cause these impacts. There is also no clear evidence of other supposed benefits of investment treaties, such as facilitating domestic reforms, promoting the rule of law or depoliticizing investment disputes.
We found that assessing the costs of investment treaties is also challenging. For example, there is evidence that investment treaties have significant distributive impacts, in so far as states have been required to pay compensation to foreign investors. However, there has been little research on investment treaties’ other distributive impacts—notably, their impact on investor–state bargaining in negotiations to settle investment disputes.
For more details, please read "Assessing the Impacts of Investment Treaties: Overview of the evidence" by IISD Associate Jonathan Bonnitcha.
More information about IISD's work in this field is available on our investment topic page.
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DIGGING OUT OF CONFLICT: CAN ARTISANAL MINING SUPPORT PEACEBUILDING?
Tens of millions of people rely upon artisanal and small-scale mining for their livelihood. Many risk their lives to feed their families by attempting to mine in conflict zones, where armed groups often seek to exploit minerals as a source of financing.
Alec Crawford, a senior researcher with IISD and the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development, argues that artisanal mining can support peacebuilding in a recent Q&A.
Countries should facilitate and encourage participation in supply chain and certification initiatives that focus on promoting conflict-free minerals and minerals that are mined in a way that supports human rights.
They can also allocate land to ASM operations. Such ASM zones can help to improve a government’s ability to regulate mining operations, to offer training and services to miners, and to help ensure that production is conflict-free.
For more on IISD's work in this area, please visit our mining topic page.
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THE RISE OF AGRICULTURAL GROWTH POLES IN AFRICA
Agriculture is increasingly seen as the driving force for economic transformation in Africa. Yet many attempts to attract responsible and sustainable investment to African agricultural have failed.
We identified 36 agricultural growth poles and 9 corridors covering at least 3.5 million hectares of land which have emerged in 23 African countries over the past 15 years. Ensuring they are effective tools to promote agro-industrial development requires robust policies, laws and practices.
Our recent policy paper identifies challenges and opportunities of current agricultural growth poles, outlines the role of laws, policies and institutions and describes three key stages for the development of a responsible agricultural growth pole.
For more information on IISD's work in this field, please visit our agriculture, water and investment topic page.
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"THIS IS A PERFECT PLATFORM TO SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND LEARN FROM OTHERS"
Government delegates from 65 countries along with representatives from over 80 organizations were among the more than 400 people who registered for the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development's Annual General Meeting in Geneva last month.
“IGF represents a global assemblage of minds to foster meaningful conversation around the mining sector that helps its members tackle critical challenges at the national level.” —Godfrey Scott, Government Representative, Guyana
We are pleased to report that 90 per cent of delegates said they came away with new ideas for how mining can contribute to sustainable development and most are already working to implement them.
We hope our event page will serve as a resource for both delegates and those unable to attend. It contains meeting reports, the communiqué, conference documents, videos, photos and background materials such as an overview of ASM Global Trends.
The theme of this year’s meeting was Managing Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM). However, we also covered a wide range of other topics, including: tax base erosion and profit shifting, local content policies, mine closure, voluntary sustainability initiatives and environmental impact assessments.
For more information please visit the IGF website and subscribe to its newsletter. IISD hosts the IGF Secretariat.
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CHINA’S LARGEST ARBITRATION INSTITUTION ADOPTS ITS FIRST INVESTMENT ARBITRATION RULES
The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), the largest arbitration institution in China, recently adopted its own arbitration rules on International Investment Disputes.
The rules are not yet publicly available in English. We presented an advanced draft of the rules, and explain why they matter in a blog by IISD Law Adviser Joe Zhang.
Interestingly, the official press release said that one of the reasons for adopting such rules was the impression that China “was treated unfairly” by tribunals established under other rules due to “a lack of understanding in Chinese laws and practices.” It was also reported that the CIETAC rules “will not only help protect Chinese firms’ overseas interests, but also benefit the Belt and Road projects as its foreign investment grows.”
This development comes at a time when other countries and regions—such as Africa and Latin America—are reasserting their own options for investment dispute settlement.
For timely analysis on investment issues, please subscribe to our flagship journal Investment Treaty News and visit IISD's investment topic page.
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HUMAN RIGHTS AND INVESTMENT-RELATED DISPUTES
Many investment-related disputes involve projects with significant impact on local communities. However, the voices of these communities are seldom heard and virtually never taken into consideration in these disputes.
IISD & the Durham Law School hosted a multi-stakeholder discussion on the role of a future binding instrument on TNCS and OBES with respect to human rights in providing inclusive remedies in investment-related disputes on October 24, 2017 in Geneva.
The discussion had two objectives. The first was to highlight the challenges preventing local communities’ voice from being heard before, during and after a foreign investment takes place. This problem is exacerbated where foreign investors resort to investment arbitration. The second was to explore how a future binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprise with respect to human rights could address these issues and provide concrete ways to overcome the challenges.
More than 30 participants from business, civil society, governments, national human rights agencies and universities engaged in the discussions.
It was organized as a side event of the Third Session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and other Business Entities with respect to Human Rights.
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