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Voices from the World Investment Forum

06 November 2014

​Civil society leaders on what mattered to them at this year's World Investment Forum.

Jurgen Maier

Jurgen Maier
Director, Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung

 

What was the highlight of the WIF for you?
The fact that so many people showed up for our side event on alternatives to ISDS and the future of bilateral investment treaties was quite unexpected - I did not think that in the WIF the eagerness of so many participants to get more information on such alternatives is so great.

What is the one key message you hope people take away from the WIF?
The WIF should be a forum where not only people from many countries come together, but also many opinions and views, because a conference lives from a plurality of views and can only gain from such diversity. I think our side event contributed to that.

Why does your organisation find it useful to participate at the WIF?
It was our first time, and it was a good decision. It was an opportunity to establish many useful new contacts and get insights and information.


 
Howard Mann

Howard Mann
Senior International Law Adviser, International Institute for Sustainable Development

 

What was the highlight of the Forum for you?
The diversity and the size of the group at the academic research event. The link between investment and sustainable development was a rather bizarre notion 15 years ago, but here we had over 200 academics working on that research agenda: it's a sea change.

 

What have you learned from the debate on International Investment Agreements?
There is no doubt that investment treaties need to change if they're going to survive. The precedent for reform is there. One example is the inclusion of investor obligations in the treaties. The EU-Canada Comprehensive Trade and Economic Agreement that was freshly negotiated a month ago now include obligations of investors, and remedies if those obligations are not met. The remedies include loss of the investor state dispute settlement process.

The question now is not whether we can have such obligations, but how to make investors responsible for the impacts of their investments on human rights, development and the environment for the duration of the investment, and not just when it is established.


 
Melinda St. Louis

Melinda St. Louis
International Campaigns Director, Public Citizen

 

What was the highlight of the Forum for you?
It was inspiring to learn from the experiences of governments like South Africa who are moving away from the outdated IIA regime and boldly rethinking ways to promote investment without restricting their policy space for pro-development and public interest policymaking.

 

What is the one key message you hope people take away from the WIF?
It is clear that the controversy around the extreme investor rights and investor-state dispute settlement has reached a tipping point. Many governments are seeking ways to exit the IIA regime and look for alternative ways to ensure that investment contributes to their sustainable development goals while preserving policy space for governments to regulate in the public interest.

Why does your organization find it useful to participate at the WIF?
It is useful for my organization and our colleagues across global civil society to have the opportunity to interact with government officials to share our perspective and analysis of the dangers of the IIA regime, based on our lived experiences.