TTIP, CETA, ISDS... WTF??


Counting the cost of investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS's) 

ISDS's form a central part of the proposed TTIP and CETA pacts.  They give private investors the right to sue governments for lost profits from scrapped projects, even when those projects violate local laws.

Here are some examples of how they've been used to date:

Vattenfall has successfully sued the German government for 1.9 billion Euros in 'damages' over loss of profits from its closed nuclear and coal plants, after claiming that German environmental law is 'too strict'.  It is now suing for another 4.7 billion Euros in a similar case.

Canada was sued for 300 million dollars 'damages' by US miners Bilcom for cancelling a mining project after an environmental review.

In the early 1990s, South Africa was sued by Italian investors over its decision to redistribute wealth from Apartheid-era mines to the nation's disenfranchised blacks.  Due to its unpopularity (and, no doubt, its racist undertones) the case was later dropped.
 
Bolivia has been sued by water company Cochabamba for attempting to lower water prices, though the case was eventually thrown out of court.

Vivendi sued Argentina in 1991 for attempting to limit the cost of water supplied to its people and keep the prices affordable.  Vivendi later won 100 million in 'damages'.

El Salvador was sued in 2009 by Pacific Rim, a mining company which failed to get proper mining permits to extract gold on El Salvadoran farmland.  El Salvador could end up paying 300 million 'damages' too - the same amount that the country receives in international aid.

The majority of these corporations were only blocked by the government after their plans were questioned by residents, activists and government officials due to legitimate health and safety, economic or cultural concerns.  So in effect, ISDS's are being used to undermine local government and, by extension, the will of the people who live on the land. 

But the ISDS law has been around since the 1950s.  Why are there so many ISDS cases in courts right now?  Probably because, in the long battle between big business and the people, the people have been gradually winning some ground over the last three decades.  Governments have faced wave after wave of mass resistance to corporate misbehaviour: the deforestation of the Amazon, ozone depletion, free trade agreements, polluting of the oceans, injuring workers, strike-breaking, lobbying to undermine legislation, etc.  If international corporations are now resorting to secret trade agreements and hidden lawsuits to keep on doing dirty business - the only kind of business that they seem to know how to do - it is because they know the that public is wise to their bad habits, and watching their every move.

The massive turnout in Berlin last weekend could be seen as proof of that fact.  Far from being apathetic about politics, the majority of people fail to act only because they can't see what the real agenda of big business is.

The only long-term solution?  Big business needs to stop being dirty.  Why is that so hard for them to accept that?

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Source: The Guardian 

Are all corporate interests courting death, or is it just those behind CETA and TTIP?

Comments

  1. Thank you - Just shared this post with a colleague who would benefit from reading this, really enjoyed it. isds ttip

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