LAW STUDENTS
& UNDERGRADS
SAY NO TO ISDS.
Join students from across the U.S. in opposing the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system, which corrodes human rights, environmental protections, and national sovereignty across the globe.
President Biden,
We are writing to express our concern about the inclusion of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system in past and present US trade and investment agreements.
As law students anticipating a career in the legal industry, we feel ethically compelled to protest any legal framework that prioritizes profit before justice–especially one as blatantly undemocratic as ISDS.
Research conducted by the United Nations has shown that the ISDS system runs counter to the human rights obligations that were built to establish a common global framework for all legal practitioners, policymakers, and communities.
Where traditional courts serve the cause of justice, ISDS serves only to preserve the profits of multinational corporations by providing them with privileges and protections far beyond those afforded to private citizens or their governments. Unlike traditional courts, these tribunals “have no set procedures or precedents,” and standards of evidence “are nonexistent, and mistruths or exaggerations go unpunished.”
Not surprisingly, formerly-colonized countries have suffered the most under this unfair system. It is telling that the first ISDS treaty was signed between The Netherlands and the authoritarian regime of Suharto in Indonesia, a former Dutch colony.
Fairness under the law is a pillar of democracy. Rather than uphold these values, this undemocratic system has been weaponized by large corporations seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of Indigenous communities, workers, and the planet.
As future legal practitioners, we demand that the US cease to include ISDS provisions in new trade and investment agreements and remove them from existing ones.
The Worst of the Worst: Egregious Corporate Attacks on Public Interest Policies
Public Citizen
Primer on International Investment Treaties and Investor-State Dispute Settlement
Columbia Center for Sustainable Development
International trade: UN expert calls for abolition of Investor-State dispute settlement arbitrations
United Nations Human Rights
President Biden,
We are writing to express our concern about the inclusion of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system in past and present US trade and investment agreements.
As law students anticipating a career in the legal industry, we feel ethically compelled to protest any legal framework that prioritizes profit before justice–especially one as blatantly undemocratic as ISDS.
Research conducted by the United Nations has shown that the ISDS system runs counter to the human rights obligations that were built to establish a common global framework for all legal practitioners, policymakers, and communities.
Where traditional courts serve the cause of justice, ISDS serves only to preserve the profits of multinational corporations by providing them with privileges and protections far beyond those afforded to private citizens or their governments. Unlike traditional courts, these tribunals “have no set procedures or precedents,” and standards of evidence “are nonexistent, and mistruths or exaggerations go unpunished.”
Not surprisingly, formerly-colonized countries have suffered the most under this unfair system. It is telling that the first ISDS treaty was signed between The Netherlands and the authoritarian regime of Suharto in Indonesia, a former Dutch colony.
Fairness under the law is a pillar of democracy. Rather than uphold these values, this undemocratic system has been weaponized by large corporations seeking to enrich themselves at the expense of Indigenous communities, workers, and the planet.
As future legal practitioners, we demand that the US cease to include ISDS provisions in new trade and investment agreements and remove them from existing ones.
Many free trade and investment agreements allow multinational corporations to undermine democracy via a secret pseudo-court system known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
This system empowers multinational corporations to sue governments before panels of corporate lawyers.
Visit the links below to learn more about ISDS.
The Worst of the Worst: Egregious Corporate Attacks on Public Interest Policies, Public Citizen
Primer on International Investment Treaties and Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Columbia Center for Sustainable Development
International trade: UN expert calls for abolition of Investor-State dispute settlement arbitrations, United Nations Human Rights
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