In this section, you will find the information organized on three levels: regionally, by country and on a global level. We list the global reports and analysis first, as they provide a general overview of this issue.
1. Global Reports
2. Reports by Country and Region
GLOBAL
U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty Negotiations
Expedited talks with China may shine a brighter spotlight on these controversial agreements. (Sarah Anderson, Dec. 2009) Read the complete article.
Policy Handcuffs in the Financial Crisis: How U.S. Trade and Investment Policies Limit Government Power to Control Capital Flows
(2009, Institute for Policy Studies). Read the full report.
Written Comments related to the US model Bilateral Investment Treaty Submitted by NJGI Advisory Committee Members
In July, 2009, the public was given the opportunity to submit written and oral testimony to the US government. Numerous Network for Justice in Global Investment Advisory Committee members submitted testimony. Sarah Anderson, of Institute for Policy Studies, is a member of the Subcommittee on Investment of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty, and you can access her testimony, specifically on the issue of capital controls, here. Jim Shultz, of The Democracy Center gave testimony specifically using the Bechtel vs. Bolivia case to demonstrate the anti-democratic aspects of the ICSID system. Advisory Committee members, William Waren of Forum on Democracy & Trade and Jeff Conant of Food and Water Watch also gave testimony.
To read all of the testimonies submitted by the public, see the link below.
Regulations.com: Your Voice in Federal Decision Making
Follow this link to access written comments that were submitted to the US government related to the US model bilateral investment treaty in July 2009.
Report of the Subcommittee on Investment of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty
Presented to the Department of State, September 30, 2009
Annexes to the Report of the Subcommittee on Investment of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty
(including joint submission by labor, environmental, and development groups)
Clash on Investment
Foreign Policy in Focus article by Sarah Anderson relating her experience serving on the Subcommittee on Investment of the Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy Regarding the Model Bilateral Investment Treaty, Nov. 4, 2009. Read the complete article.
Challenging Corporate Investor Rule
(2007, Institute for Policy Studies). Read the full report.
“Recent Developments in Regional and Bilateral Investment Treaties”
International Institute for Sustainable Development´s report from the 2nd Annual Forum of Developing Country Investment Negotiators: 3-4 November, 2008; Read the full report.
Madly Off in All Directions
Dialogue on Globalization: The Global Governance of Foreign Direct Investment (FES Paper, No. 19 May 2005). Read the full report.
Secretive World Bank tribunal confronts calls to open up
(Bretton Woods project, 13 June, 2005). Read the full report.
Human Rights and Bilateral Investment Treaties: Mapping the role of human rights law within investor-state arbitration
(Rights & Democracy). Read the full report.
The Global Financial Crisis: Will State Emergency Measures Trigger International Investment Disputes?
Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment, Read the full report.
A Case for an International Investment Court
Social Science Research Network. Read the full report.
Constitutionalizing Economic Globalization: Investment Rules and Democracy’s Promise
Are foreign investors the privileged citizens of a new constitutional order that guarantees rates of return on investment interests? Schneiderman explores the linkages between a new investment rules regime and state constitutions – between a constitution-like regime for the protection of foreign investment and the constitutional projects of national states. David Schneiderman (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Find more information on this book.
Investment Treaty Arbitration and Public Law
Written by H.H.A. Van Harten. Find more information on this book.
Dignity and Defiance- Stories from Bolivia’s Challenge to Globalization
The Democracy Center’s book, (Univerisity of California Press, 2008) Chapter 1: Water in Cochabamba After the Water Revolt: A Legend with Mixed Results. To access this chapter of Dignity and Defiance.
To access the website for Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia’s Challenge to Globalization.
“Total Aggrave son Cas”
Les Amis de la Terre. Read the report in French.
“Some investors are more equal than others”
Dani Rodrik’s weblog in support of the Financial Times article: March 12, 2008. Read the post.
REPORTS BY COUNTRY & REGION
AFRICA
The Congo
“Soul mining : the involvement of the EIB in the Tenke Fungurume mine, DRC”
Amis de la Terre. Read the report in French.
Republic of South Africa
Bilateral Investment Treaty Policy Framework Review
Executive Summary of Republic of South Africa Government Position Paper, July 2009. Read the paper.
Tanzania
“The Water Margin”
The Guardian, Post on Tanzania, August, 2007. Read the article.
REGIONAL REPORTS: Africa
Report Six Years Financing the Plundering of Africa
Les Amis de la Terre. Read the report in French and English.
THE AMERICAS
Argentina
Argentina Versus the World Bank: Fair Play or Fixed Fight?
Americas Program Special Report, April, 2008. Read the full report.
INTERVIEW: Argentina Seeks Diplomatic Exit From ICSID Suits
Posted by Bilaterals.org, Dow Jones October 12, 2007. “BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Read the article.
Bolivia
“Why Bolivia Quit ICSID?”
Stop Telecom Italia. April 29, 2007. Read the full report.
“Leasing the Rain”
The New Yorker, April, 2002. “In April of 2000, in the central plaza of the beautiful old Andean city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, the body of Víctor Hugo Daza lay on a makeshift bier. Daza, a seventeen-year-old student, had been shot in the face by the Army during protests sparked by an increase in local water rates….” Read the article.
Ecuador
Ecuador´s Debt Default: Exposing a Gap in the Global Financial Architecture
Foreign Policy in Focus Commentary, December 15, 2008. Read the articile.
Ecuador: World Bank Court May Rule in Oxy Case In 4Q 09
The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2009. “QUITO (Dow Jones); Read the article: Ecuador: World Bank Court May Rule in Oxy Case In 4Q 09
El Salvador
El Salvador government considers ban on mining as permit freeze leads to CAFTA arbitration
Investment Treaty News article, September 2, 2009. Read the full article.
Salvadoran Anti-Mining Activists Risk Their Lives by Taking On ‘Free Trade’
Nacla, February 1, 2010. Read the full article.
EL SALVADOR: Activists Link Mining Co. to Murders
IPS-Interpress Service, January 27, 2010. Read the full article.
Mexico
Inside U.S. Trade: Mexican Truckers file NAFTA Investor Claim; DOT Gives Proposal to NSC
Aprtil 10, 2009; Global Trade Watch posts Inside US Trade Article. “A group of Mexican trucking companies late last week filed for investor-state arbitration under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), seeking billions of dollars in damages from the United States for the U.S. failure to open its market to Mexican trucks….” Read the article.
REGIONAL REPORTS- The Americas
Foreign Investment and Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Americas
Working Group on Development and the Environment in the Americas, 2008. Read the full report.
“NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-State Disputes to January 1, 2008”
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative (CCPA) released this report. Read the full report.
Environmental policy implications of investor-state arbitration under NAFTA Chapter 11
International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics Volume 7, Number 2/ June, 2007. Read the full report.
Lessons for the Central American Free Trade Agreement
NAFTA´s Threat to Sovereignty and Democracy: The Record of NAFTA Chapter 11 Investor-State Cases 1994-2005. (Public Citizen, 2005) Read the full report.
EUROPE
Kazakhstan
State of Kazakhstan
Les Amis de la Terre. Read the report in French.
Mega-Oil Project in Kshagan
Les Amis de la Terre. Read the report in French.
REGIONAL REPORTS: Europe
“Citizen’s guide to the European Investment Bank”
Counter Balance produced citizens guide. Read the citizen’s guide in English Read the guide in French.
