2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights

International investment and trade agreements (IIAs) can foster economic development.

IIAs can also adversely impact the realization of human rights in a multitude of ways, such as contraining the legal or policy space or divorcing rights of investors from their human rights responsibilities.

Team members presented on integrating human rights into IIAs at the 2018 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights.

The session aimed to:

• Invite experts dealing with the intersection of investment law and human rights law to develop concrete proposals to inform the current IIAs regime’s reform;
• Provide a platform to brainstorm collectively and critically the potential as well as limitations of developing human rights-compatible IIAs; and
• Inform the UN Working Group’s work concerning guidance to states in implementing Principle 9 of the UNGPs.