A New Frontier in International Investment Law: Adjudication of Host Citizen-Investor Disputes?

Abstract

This is the age of reform in the world of international investment law. Most particularly through the reform process at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), states are seeking to remake the procedural infrastructure of international investment law for it to better respond to their interests. One new addition to the existing infrastructure that has been proposed is making investors accountable at the international level for their misconduct. Under this rubric, the idea of giving host citizens the possibility of claiming against investors in international adjudication has been mooted. Scholars have been quick to draw up proposals for the international adjudication of host citizen-investor disputes. This paper examines the legal challenges and practical difficulties with those proposals. On the back of that examination, it is concluded that the European Union-proposed Multilateral Investment Court could serve as a forum for the international adjudication of host citizen-investor disputes. But it would only play a supporting role in a bigger system of justice for host citizens. The main role would be played by a mandatory insurance scheme. This paper puts forward the first conception on how this scheme could work in tandem with the Multilateral Investment Court to deliver justice on a broad scale to host citizens.