Welcome to our roundtable discussion on the balancing of rights and obligations of states and investors. In the past fifteen years, the number of investor-state disputes has grown exponentially, mainly as a result of arbitration clauses contained in investment treaties. The significant number of publicly available decisions and awards has allowed us to form views—and concerns—about both process and outcomes. Some of the concerns have led to the introduction of changes, not only in treaties but also in underlying investment policies. In some instances, states have issued interpretations of particular provisions. In recent years, multilateral initiatives have developed recommendations on how future investment treaties might be improved.
This morning's discussion will focus on the criticism that faults investment treaties for only imposing obligations on states, while providing no obligations on covered investors. We will also be talking about criticism that treaties, and disputes, fail to allow for involvement of communities that may be affected by investments, leading to human rights concerns. A third point of concern argues that states have reduced their regulatory space as a result of undertakings toward investors, especially in areas that affect public health and the environment.
To begin the roundtable, we have agreed that each panelist will give a short introduction on issues relevant to the discussion that will follow. Before concluding, we plan to take questions from the audience.
We will begin the discussion with Donald McRae, professor at Ottawa University.
(1) Donald McRae, professor at Ottawa University, will share some thoughts on recent investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) criticism and explain why there is a need to focus on the substantive provisions in the treaties.
(2) Professor McRae will be followed by Marcos Orellana, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), who will examine the interests and actors that are involved in investment disputes, focusing on the standing of third parties.
(3) Marcos Orellana will be followed by John Sherman, general counsel of Shift New York. John Sherman will discuss the UN Guiding Principles, and their relevance to the negotiation of foreign investor-host state contracts, as a means of identifying and addressing disputes between communities and investors.
(4) Following his remarks, Hew Pate, vice president and general counsel of Chevron Corporation, will talk about corporate social responsibility and explain the changes that Chevron has introduced in this area of its operations, and he will also discuss investment treaty arbitrations.
(5) Finally, we will hear from Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, professor at the University of Geneva, who will deal with new trends in international investment agreements with respect to the incorporation in these agreements of corporate social responsibility standards in order to better balance rights and obligations between states and investors.
So I will now turn the floor over to Professor McRae.
