Today we published "Red carpet courts: 10 stories of how the rich and powerful hijacked justice“, together with the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Friends of the Earth Europe (FoEE) and International (FoEI). It presents ten emblematic ISDS lawsuits, which have been filed, threatened or decided since 2015 and which have undermined justice, human rights & environmental protection around the world. Please find more information below.
Three of the case studies are accompanied by videos, which show the wonderful activists who have fought toxic mines, a luxury real estate project and dirty oil drilling - and whose community successes are now being challenged in ISDS corporate courts.
The first video - on the fight against the toxic Rosia Montana mine and the subsequent $5.7 billion (!) ISDS lawsuit by Canadian mining company Gabriel Resources against Romania - is already online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwWGXbV5XIk
We would appreciate if you could help us spread the word by forwarding to your networks, sharing on twitter (you can check @pia_eberhardt, @loraenvt, @CeOlivet, @corporateeurope, @foeeurope @foeint and @TNInstitute) and Facebook. And check CEOwebtv for more videos to come…
For the Canadian colleagues, here are the 3 case studies, which involve Canadian mining companies:
Gabriel Resources vs Romania: http://10isdsstories.org/cases/case1/
Copper Mesa vs Ecuador: http://10isdsstories.org/cases/case7/
Eco Oro vs Colombia: http://10isdsstories.org/cases/case10/
Red carpet courts
10 stories of how the rich and powerful hijacked justice
Ten emblematic investor-state lawsuits which have been filed, threatened or decided since 2015 in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, demonstrate that ISDS is again and again used as a corporate weapon against the public interest.
Visit: www.10isdsstories.org
- Gabriel Resources v. Romania (released together with an amazing video on the case)
- Novartis vs Colombia
- Razvoj Golf & Elitech vs Croatia
- Kingsgate vs Thailand
- Vermilion vs France
- Border Timbers & von Pezold vs Zimbabwe
- Copper Mesa vs Ecuador
- ConocoPhillips and Perenco vs VietNam
- Rockhopper vs Italy
- Eco Oro vs Colombia
The case studies show that ISDS – and its re-branded EU format – creates significant and systemic public risks without any corresponding benefits to society. The stories expose the threat that ISDS poses to democracy, public budgets, the integrity of host states’ judicial systems and to basic human, social and environmental
