{"id":17044,"date":"2026-04-21T18:46:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/?p=17044"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:46:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:46:27","slug":"honduras-rejoins-icsid-deepening-exposure-to-multi-billion-dollar-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2026\/04\/21\/honduras-rejoins-icsid-deepening-exposure-to-multi-billion-dollar-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Honduras Rejoins ICSID, Deepening Exposure to Multi-Billion Dollar Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On March 6, 2026, President Nasry Asfura <a href=\"https:\/\/icsid.worldbank.org\/news-and-events\/news-releases\/honduras-signs-icsid-convention\">signed<\/a> the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips1'>ICSID Convention<\/span> on behalf of Honduras, reversing the country\u2019s 2024 withdrawal by the previous administration. The government frames re-accession as a measure to restore &#8220;legal security&#8221; and attract investment for infrastructure and energy projects. However, civil society, Indigenous, and human rights organisations <a href=\"https:\/\/terra-justa.org\/dc_2017\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Statement-in-Defense-of-Sovereignty-and-Collective-Rights-in-Honduras-Not-to-ICSID-February-25-2026.pdf\">oppose<\/a> the move, warning that the system prioritises transnational capital over collective rights and territorial sovereignty. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilaterals.org\/?honduran-and-international-allies\">Critics<\/a> point to Honduras&#8217;s existing exposure to significant <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips43'>ISDS<\/span> litigation, most notably the USD 10.8 billion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.italaw.com\/cases\/9971\">Pr\u00f3spera ZEDE<\/a> dispute over the repeal of charter\u2011city legislation. Re\u2011accession illustrates the dilemma facing high\u2011debt, lower\u2011income states: the political pressure to appear \u201cinvestor\u2011friendly\u201d often conflicts with long\u2011term fiscal sustainability. By re\u2011entering the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips18'>ICSID<\/span> system, Honduras increases its exposure to massive claims, raising fundamental questions about whether the perceived benefits of ICSID membership outweigh the financial and regulatory costs.<\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips1','Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips43','investor\u2013state dispute settlement'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips58','soluci\u00f3n de controversias inversionista-Estado'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips114','Sistema de Tribunales de Inversiones'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On March 6, 2026, President Nasry Asfura signed the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips1'>ICSID Convention<\/span> on behalf of Honduras, reversing the country\u2019s 2024 withdrawal by the previous administration.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips1','Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips18','International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips72','Investment Court System'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":17196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1900],"class_list":["post-17044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-current-issue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17045,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17044\/revisions\/17045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}