In October 2024, the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) reached the end of its initial ten-year term. The UK and Colombian governments now have the opportunity to work together to terminate the treaty, which is incompatible with human rights, peace, democracy and environmental protection. The Colombia-UK BIT contains the controversial Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which allows corporations to sue governments for policies they allege damage the value of their investments.

Globally, the ISDS mechanism has been used more than 1300 times to challenge public policies on everything from climate action to minimum wage legislation. The former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment recently warned that agreements incorporating ISDS have “catastrophic consequences for the environment and human rights” and represent a “daunting obstacle” to governments’ climate plans.

Colombia has been subjected to 26 ISDS claims over the last decade, four of which were made by UK investors using the Colombia-UK BIT. Many of these cases have been raised by mining companies in direct response to measures taken by the Colombian government to protect the natural environment and the rights of indigenous peoples. Colombia is exposed potentially to 286 ISDS claims relating to fossil fuel projects. As of last year, Colombia’s pending ISDS claims exceeded $13 billion, an amount equivalent to over 13% of the government’s annual budget.

The UK now has the chance to begin a new chapter for trade policy, in which the UK’s trade and investment agreements support human rights and environmental action around the world. Governments from the US to Indonesia to Australia are beginning to reject ISDS. Parliamentarians should call on the government to bring the UK into line with emerging international best practice. This would mean terminating the Colombia-UK BIT, followed by a process of reviewing all UK treaties containing ISDS.