ABColombia Campaigns

Write to your MP – ISDS

ABColombia is gravely concerned about the human rights, environmental and health impacts of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Mechanism that exists in the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), and the impact it is having on Colombia’s ability to legislate in favour of human rights and meet its Paris Agreement commitments.

Established in the 1960s, the ISDS mechanism was intended to increase investment by providing a safety net for investors to allow for compensation in the case of expropriation of their assets. However this mechanism has now gone way beyond this.

‘Claims under the ISDS process [today] are used to challenge climate and environmental actions taken by States and to demand billions of dollars in compensation. These cases are decided not by independent judges but by arbitration lawyers, many of whom work for law firms that represent investors. This unjust, undemocratic and dysfunctional process has sparked a legitimacy crisis in the international investment regime.’

– David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.

Former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David Boyd, in a report entitled “Paying polluters: the catastrophic consequences of investor-State dispute settlement for climate and environment action and human rights”, stated that multinational companies are suing governments for fulfilling their commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

In October 2024, the Colombia-UK BIT reaches the end of its initial ten-year term. The UK and Colombian governments will now have the opportunity to terminate this treaty, which is incompatible with human rights, peace, democracy and environmental protection. 

The vast majority (86%) of investor claimants are from high-income countries, whereas the majority (66%) of cases are against lower and middle-income countries. Particularly, in lower-income countries, ISDS losses can have a significant economic impact.

Recent years have seen states take a decisive shift away from the ISDS mechanism. A range of countries including Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa have terminated or refrained from signing agreements that include it. The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have pledged not to include ISDS in their future trade agreements, and in April 2024, the US indicated that it is actively reviewing options to remove ISDS from its existing trade deals, after already committing to exclude it from future agreements.  

In February 2024, the previous UK Government announced its withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty, which contains ISDS, on the basis that remaining a member “could penalise us for our world-leading efforts to deliver net zero.”

The Colombia-UK BIT, as with many such agreements, has an initial treaty term of 10 years after which it automatically renews for an indefinite further term. The initial 10-year period ends on 10 October 2024, opening the possibility for termination. The BIT’s sunset clause means that the provisions of the Agreement persist for a further fifteen years, unless a mutual termination of that clause is agreed. The UK and the Colombian government must bi-laterally terminate the BIT and neutralise the sunset clause.

You can help by sending the following letter to your local MP. All you need to do is visit writetothem.com to find out who your MP is, press “Send a Message“ and paste the following, making sure to sign your name and fill in the rest of your details.

Here is the standard letter.

Please let us know when you have written to your MP, and their response, by emailing abcolombia@abcolombia.org.uk.

Thank you