Since 2001, ITN has offered news, analysis, and opinions on international investment law and its implications for sustainable development.
Note: In October of 2005, the Investment Law and Policy News Bulletin was rebranded as Investment Treaty News (ITN). This archive contains past editions of the earlier News Bulletin, as well as more recent editions of ITN.
The Tribunal: An Uncomfortable Journey Into the Human Realities of ISDS
The Tribunal: ISDS and local communities in times of a climate change revolution
The Tribunal: A film that invites arbitration practitioners to take investment-affected communities and the environment seriously
The Tribunal: A powerful exposition of investment arbitration’s distance from and indifference to lived realities
This is a special issue of Investment Treaty News. We’re focusing on the human stories often overlooked in international investment law and policy.
Andrea Shemberg discusses how the documentary, The Tribunal, exposes the human impact of the Copper Mesa v. Ecuador case, highlighting the profound distance between an international arbitration system designed to protect investments and the real lives of the affected communities. Shemberg notes the film’s power lies in its focus on the story of community members, whose pain and experiences of violence were ultimately blacked out of the arbitral tribunal’s decision, making their voices literally unheard in the legal process.
Gabriel Bottini begins by reminding us of a shifting legal landscape following the powerful advisory opinions from key international courts and tribunals articulating the state obligations on the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and the climate emergency. Viewing The Tribunal with these new developments in mind, Bottini explains that Rogge’s film represents a perspective seldom considered by investment tribunals because ISDS is designed to hear the voices of states and investors but not local communities. A key lesson emerging from the film is the need for tribunals to find ways to reach out to investment-affected local communities.
Peter Muchlinski argues that the film, The Tribunal, makes a strong case for arbitration practitioners to integrate human rights and environmental considerations more fully into the ISDS system. He suggests that a visit to the affected community would have given arbitrators a better understanding of the human and environmental concerns brought about by the foreign investment.
Anil Yilmaz Vastardis and Tara Van Ho examine The Tribunal’s portrayal of the “distance” of investment arbitration from the lived realities of communities in Ecuador’s Intag region. The authors explain this distance as physical, epistemological, and cultural, demonstrating how the legal process—from the location of the proceedings to the redaction of the final award—systematically excludes and erases the voices, experiences, and human rights abuses suffered by local people.
Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.) v. Republic of South Sudan and Bank of South Sudan, ICSID Case No. ARB/20/40
Asael Halevi v. Czech Republic
Discovery Global LLC v. Slovak Republic
Republic of Kazakhstan v. World Wide Minerals Ltd. and others
On May 8, 2025, China and Russia reportedly signed a revised bilateral investment treaty, replacing their existing 2006 bilateral investment treaty.
On April 22, 2025, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (Gerechtshof Amsterdam) issued a landmark ruling ordering a Dutch investor to terminate an ongoing intra-EU arbitration against Poland on the basis that it violates EU law.
On May 22, 2025, the Council of the European Union formally adopted the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (the Mauritius Convention), marking a significant step toward promoting public accountability in investor–state arbitration.
On September 27, 2024, India and Uzbekistan signed a new bilateral investment treaty, which came into force in May 2025.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a landmark advisory opinion linking climate obligations with the reform of ISDS.
On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion affirming that states have binding obligations under international law to combat climate change.
Although the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) does not include ISDS in its investment chapter, its member states are actively debating whether to include ISDS within the bloc’s legal framework.
On June 3, 2025, Switzerland and Chile concluded a new bilateral investment treaty aimed at reinforcing protections for Swiss investors operating in Chile and vice versa.
The UK Civil Justice Council has released its long-awaited final report on litigation funding, following years of debate on the role of third-party funding in the civil justice system.
UNCITRAL has adopted a new toolkit designed to help states mitigate and prevent investor–state disputes.
UNCTAD has launched a new global database dedicated to investment facilitation.
The UNCTAD secretariat has announced that it will host the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) in Geneva in October 2025.
