ISDS: "A Private Justice System For... Corporations". One the administration is pushing [View all]

[cali]

And yes, it shocks me that the administration is pushing ISDS in both the TPP and TTIP. There are nations that have objected to its inclusion. Or rather there were nations that objected. Australia just knuckled under.

ISDS is rigged in favor of corporations. Period. The history of its use is disgusting and widely known.

corporate use of the ISDS has already led to tragic results and governmental changes that benefit only corporate profit while sacrificing the well being of people.

No, that's not hyperbole. It's fucking fact.

The U.S. is behind ISDS and this administration is pushing hard for it.

Since NAFTA the U.S. has insisted that all its trade agreements have ISDS and corresponding "investors rights" chapters.

In 2012, corporations won over 70% of the disputes they initiated- and they initiate all of them. There is no similar process for communities and nations. It's like having the Chamber of Commerce be the arbitrator in a dispute between business and environmentalists


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These companies (along with hundreds of others) are using the investor-state dispute rules embedded in trade treaties signed by the countries they are suing. The rules are enforced by panels which have none of the safeguards we expect in our own courts. The hearings are held in secret. The judges are corporate lawyers, many of whom work for companies of the kind whose cases they hear. Citizens and communities affected by their decisions have no legal standing. There is no right of appeal on the merits of the case. Yet they can overthrow the sovereignty of parliaments and the rulings of supreme courts.

You don't believe it? Here's what one of the judges on these tribunals says about his work. "When I wake up at night and think about arbitration, it never ceases to amaze me that sovereign states have agreed to investment arbitration at all ... Three private individuals are entrusted with the power to review, without any restriction or appeal procedure, all actions of the government, all decisions of the courts, and all laws and regulations emanating from parliament."

There are no corresponding rights for citizens. We can't use these tribunals to demand better protections from corporate greed. As the Democracy Centre says, this is "a privatised justice system for global corporations".

Even if these suits don't succeed, they can exert a powerful chilling effect on legislation. One Canadian government official, speaking about the rules introduced by the North American Free Trade Agreement, remarked: "I've seen the letters from the New York and DC law firms coming up to the Canadian government on virtually every new environmental regulation and proposition in the last five years. They involved dry-cleaning chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, patent law. Virtually all of the new initiatives were targeted and most of them never saw the light of day." Democracy, as a meaningful proposition, is impossible under these circumstances.

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/04/us-trade-deal-full-frontal-assault-on-democracy





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