Environmental Interests in Investment Arbitration: Challenges and Directions and Water Services Disputes in International Arbitration: Reconsidering the Nexus of Investment Protection, Environment, and Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ylli Dautaj
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Water Services ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Environmental Interests

Book review: Xu Qian, Water Services Disputes in International Arbitration: Reconsidering the Nexus of Investment Protection, Environment, and Human Rights

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-138
Author(s):  
Sungjin Kang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Water Services ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Investment Protection

Xu Qian, Water Services Disputes in International Arbitration: Reconsidering the Nexus of Investment Protection, Environment, and Human Rights. The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International BV, 2020, xiv+280 pp., GBP 156.51. ISBN 978-94-035-2203-6.

The Silent Spring of Human Rights in Investment Arbitration: Jurisprudence Constante through Case-Law Trajectory

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-570
Author(s):  
Riddhi Dhananjay Joshi ◽  
Shashikala Gurpur
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Silent Spring ◽  
Environmental Interests

Abstract As a niché body of jurisprudence, International Investment Arbitration has paradoxically remained aloof from developments in other related spheres of law. Increasingly, however, Tribunals have been compelled to reflect on matters arising out of a human rights narrative. This article studies the perspectives of certain stakeholders in choosing to employ human rights to further social, economic or environmental interests in an investment arbitration. These stakeholders are: Claimant, Respondent, Third Party Interveners, Tribunal, and Enforcing Jurisdiction. Reliance is placed on awards spanning 28 years from 1989 to 2017 under the ICSID regime as well as in ad hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL Rules. An analysis of trends in case law sheds light on the nature of a jurisprudence constante developing in this regard. The article also explores limitations to, and recommendations for, the engagement of human rights within the realms of Investment Arbitration.

The Oxford Handbook of International Arbitration

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Central Values ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
One Stop ◽  
Environmental Considerations

This Handbook presents and discuss today’s cutting-edge knowledge in the area of international arbitration. It reflects the different ‘languages’ used in the field and offers the reader a one-stop-shop entry into the main things we know and the main ways in which we think about international arbitration today. The Handbook is divided into seven parts. Part 1 provides an overview of the key legal notions needed to understand how international arbitration technically works, such as the relation between arbitration and law, the power of arbitral tribunals to make decisions, the appointment of arbitrators, and the role of public policy. Part 2 analyses some of the main developments that changed the field over the last 15 years, including the rise of human rights concerns, environmental considerations, and the need for greater transparency. Part 3 focuses on key actors in international arbitration, such as arbitrators, parties choosing arbitrators, and civil society. Part 4 examines the central values at stake in the field, including efficiency, legal certainty, and constitutional ideals. Part 5 discusses intellectual paradigms structuring the thinking in and about international arbitration, such as the idea of autonomous transnational legal orders and conflicts-of-law thinking. Part 6 presents the empirical evidence we currently have about the operations and effects of both commercial and investment arbitration. Finally, Part 7 provides different disciplinary perspectives on international arbitration, including historical, sociological, literary, economic, and psychological accounts.

The 1st Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 839-844
Author(s):  
Christina Pfaff
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
Economic Order ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Chamber Of Commerce ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Goethe

In April 2006, the Wilhelm Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt organised a symposium in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). At the symposium, young and up-and-coming scholars, together with experienced experts from both the profession and academia, discussed a broad range of issues relating to investment protection before a substantial audience. Frankfurt is also home to the Frankfurt International Arbitration Center (FIAC), founded in 2005 as a joint venture between the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Frankfurt CCI) and the Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (DIS). Under an agreement between ICSID and DIS, the FIAC serves as a cooperation facility for ICSID arbitrations. It is one of only two cooperation facilities in Europe.

Das Menschenrecht auf Wasser im internationalen Investitionsrecht

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Maria Panosch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Right ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Corporate Social

International investment law and the law of human rights currently show an unresolved relationship in the practice of international arbitration. The extent to which a human right to water can be accommodated within the framework of investment protection law has been considered in detail in this thesis. The possible solutions identified in the course of this research offer the potential to adequately take into account a human right to water in investment arbitration, both through non-contractual integration by means of a systemic interpretation along the established guidelines and through the contractual inclusion of explicitly formulated building blocks on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Human Rights and International Investment Arbitration

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-185
Author(s):  
Ursula Kriebaum
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
Host State ◽  
Investment Protection ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Rights Issues

This chapter assesses the role of human rights in international investment arbitration. The treatment of human rights issues by investment tribunals has received increased attention in recent years, especially from the academic world. This is particularly so because tribunals have adopted varying approaches when confronted with human rights-based arguments. Some have responded in a negative way, declining to exercise jurisdiction when human rights were concerned. Others declined to discuss human rights arguments, noting that investment protection provisions were more favourable to investors than human rights law. Others applied human rights law where it composed part of the applicable law by virtue of the host State being a party to a human rights treaty. And some, when interpreting investment protection treaties, drew inspiration from approaches used by human rights courts, despite the decisive human rights treaty not being in force in the host state in the case at hand. The chapter then reflects upon the requirements for the application of human rights law in investment disputes.

The Sociological Dimension of International Arbitration

2020 ◽  
pp. 716-739
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Features ◽  
Sociological Literature

This chapter addresses the sociological dimension of international arbitration. Sociological analysis of international arbitration begins from the premise that individuals’ behaviour and normative choices are significantly affected by sociocultural factors and processes. Indeed, the behaviour of actors participating in international arbitration is not isolated from its social context. The chapter then analyses the interactions between the social features of the investment arbitration community and two significant issues in investment arbitration: the application of human rights law by investment arbitrators and the constraining nature of norms regarding side arbitrator impartiality. While the first issue focuses on the particular features of the investment arbitration community and its interactions with another social group—the human rights community—the second issue regarding arbitrators’ impartiality is explored by employing several theoretical perspectives relating to the structure–agency debate in sociological literature.

Social movements, reframing investment relations, and enhancing the application of human rights norms in international investment law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Investment Law

Abstract The recent moderate trend to increasingly apply human rights law in investment awards is accompanied by certain new investment treaties which include expressed human rights provisions. An analysis of recent investment awards indicates that though there are some ‘winds of change’ in this field, it is equally noticeable that human rights law is far from being mainstreamed in international investment law. Investment arbitration procedural law is also undergoing a process of change, and the new procedural rules tend to enhance public elements in the investment arbitral system. This study is aimed at explaining these recent legal changes, highlighting the role of social movements in reframing investment relations as well as increasing public pressure to apply human rights law. These framing changes concern broadening the frame of investment arbitration (beyond the foreign investor–host state dyad), reversing the perceived balance of power between investors and host states, and zooming-in on local individuals and communities residing in host states. The discussion on factors impeding legal change in this field emphasizes the role of the private legal culture prevalent in the investment arbitration system, which is reflected and reinforced by certain resilient socio-legal frames. Informed by this analysis, the study suggests some legal mechanisms which can mitigate the inter-partes frame, and increase the application of human rights law in investment arbitration; inter alia, rigorous transparency rules that are likely to facilitate increased public pressure on tribunals and increase the participation of social movements representing local actors in arbitral processes.

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