No to the investor-state arbitrage system!
Note of support for the government of Colombia
El CLACSO Working Group on Lex Mercatoria, Corporate Power and Human Rights extends its recognition and congratulations to Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his government team for the decision to withdraw from the international investment arbitration regime.
Latin America and the Caribbean have become one of the regions most affected by investor-state dispute settlement claims. In recent decades, foreign investors have filed at least 419 known cases against countries in the region, and governments have been ordered to pay $36,6 billion in compensation. These funds come from public coffers that should be allocated to health, education, the environment, social infrastructure, and other public goods.
Furthermore, we understand that Colombia not only maintains bilateral investment protection treaties in force, but also new-generation free trade agreements that incorporate investment protection clauses and investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms. Colombia is also a member of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
To address this situation, academics and researchers from the Working Group, along with more than 200 international experts—including Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty, Jayati Ghosh, and José Antonio Ocampo—signed an open letter to President Petro requesting Colombia's withdrawal from the international investment arbitration system.
In this regard, the Working Group advocates for a thorough review of these agreements, the termination of investment treaties, and withdrawal from ICSID, as part of a set of measures aimed at demonstrating a firm political will to limit the power of foreign corporations in Colombia.
In the context of the First International Conference on the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels, to be held in Colombia in April of this year, the CLACSO Lex Mercatoria Working Group reiterates its call to Latin American governments to move forward with decisions aimed at strengthening the independence and economic autonomy of the region's states. The Colombian government's decision opens the possibility for other countries to adopt similar measures in order to overcome subordination to international private interests and promote more sovereign development models.
CLACSO Working Group on Lex Mercatoria, Corporate Power and Human Rights
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
