The international investment regime currently in place allows investors to bring claims against host states before ad hoc international tribunals, based on obligations enshrined in international investment agreements (IIAs). This system is termed Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). Our work focuses on the experience of states in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
On October 25, a pivotal event saw the unveiling of a comprehensive white paper titled “Turning the Tide: How to Harness the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity to Deliver and ISDS-Free Americas.” This publication, a joint effort by CAROLA, Rethink Trade, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, and the Center on Inclusive Trade Development, underscores the urgent need for an Americas-wide exit from the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) regime. With the current $47 billion in pending corporate claims against the 12 APEP nations and a backdrop of 43 ISDS-enforced agreements, this message cannot be timelier. Notable figures, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, lend their voices to the call.
You can watch the presentation on YouTube and read the paper.
CAROLA has launched a dynamic International Investment Database, showcased in a new website, to study and analyze international investment law in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. This content represents a first attempt to combine and process data from multiple public sources (including UNCTAD, ICSID, and public information from country governments) and make it available in a searchable, central database for LAC countries, using information available as of November 2023. The website is a work in progress, and our team continues to update it. We provide access to our raw databases and welcome feedback from the public to develop further, refine, and access information.
Our website walks viewers through questions such as: What has been the experience of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with investor-state dispute settlement? How many International Investment Agreements have they signed? What are the legal provisions most invoked in their disputes? What are the most costly awards and settlements? What are the industries, law firms, arbitrators, and arbitration centers most involved in disputes?
The team working on this project included Nazly Duarte Gomez, Daniel Rangel Jurado, Mario Osorio, Andrés Esteban-Tovar, Sarah Mihm, Stefanny Justinico Moreno, Paulina Rodriguez-Leon, and Bernarda Muriel.
CAROLA published its first Policy Brief in November of 2021, which identifies potential alternatives to international investment reform and indicates mechanisms through which these reforms may be implemented. The brief seeks to provide guidance to public officials interested in changing the existing international investment law regime and how their country engages with it.
Nazly Duarte Gomez and Daniel Rangel Jurado authored the Policy Brief in collaboration with Alvaro Santos and Mario Osorio.
The UNCITRAL Secretariat invited CAROLA to present its newly released policy brief "New Directions in International Investment Law: Alternatives for Improvement" to government officials. The event was held as part of the forty-first session of the UNCITRAL Working Group III held from November 15, 20121 to November 19, 2021.
