Human rights and international investment law

Abstract

The chapter focuses on the interaction between foreign direct investment (FDI) and human rights as one of the most contentious issues surrounding the contemporary regulation of FDI. Human rights issues interact in various ways with investment law. Therefore, the chapter briefly discusses the question whether human rights obligations directly impose obligations on foreign investors as a matter of international law. Moreover, it addresses the limited scope of the jurisdiction of investment tribunals, the effect of the insertion, in investment treaties of clauses concerning the obligations of foreign investors and the effect of ‘legality’ requirements in investment treaties. Furthermore, the ‘conflict’ between human rights obligations and investment treaty obligations and the applicable rules on treaty conflict are examined. It assesses how investment tribunals have dealt with human rights as part of the applicable law in investments, and human rights invoked as a defence for a breach of an investment treaty obligation.