With the support of Oxfam, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment reviewed select provisions in the Mines and Minerals Act 2009 and corresponding policy statements from the Minerals Policy 2018 to provide recommendations for how to best align the anticipated new mining law with international best practice. The 2009 law was reviewed with a focus on the… read more

By Lise Johnson
January 14, 2020

The issue of investor responsibilities in investment law is – and should be — gaining prominence. Questions regarding whether and how investor responsibilities are, could, and should, be incorporated into or otherwise interact with international investment law and international investment agreements (IIAs) are a crucial part of the conversation regarding international investment law and policy, and reform thereof.

By Jesse Coleman
January 14, 2020

Can the investment regime be used to enhanced access to remedy and corporate accountability for human rights abuses in the context of international investment? If so, how?

By Brooke Skartvedt Güven
January 3, 2020

Investor-state mediation is a mechanism that is increasingly considered as a way to resolve disputes between companies and their host-country governments. Mediation merits exploration precisely because it can be adapted by the parties to the circumstances of any particular investment-related issue and be used to support mutually-beneficial outcomes. In this way, its malleability should be viewed as a tool that, if properly used, could overcome the failures of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system evidenced by the current “legitimacy crisis” that ISDS faces. However, to the extent mediation’s flexibilities are used to facilitate processes or outcomes that sideline domestic legal processes, third-party rights and interests, and norms of democratic accountability and the rule of law, it will undoubtedly meet the same fate as ISDS.

CCSI has long advocated in its trainings and advisory work for governments to perform due diligence on prospective investors. However, little guidance exists for governments on how to decide what level of due diligence is necessary, how to perform basic checks, and when to engage with third parties. CCSI has teamed up with Kroll to help fill this information gap with this guidance document.

By Lisa Sachs
October 16, 2019

To contribute to UNCITRAL’s work on these ISDS reform, CCSI, together with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), has submitted to the UNCITRAL process four documents outlining potential reform options and considerations.

A printable version of this primer is also available here. [Updated as of May 31, 2019] What Are International Investment Agreements (IIAs)? IIAs are bilateral or multilateral treaties that commit state-parties to afford specific standards of conduct to foreign investors from the other state-parties. These treaties grant foreign investors certain benefits, including recourse to Investor-State… read more

CCSI strongly supports the transparency of contracts and tax flows. CCSI shares the belief of many stakeholders that transparency is essential to leverage extractive industries for sustainable development and is in the mutual interest of all stakeholders. However, some industry players continue to voice the concern that increased transparency would be harmful for their business…. read more

The CCSI and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Thematic Group on Good Governance of Extractive and Land Resources published a short briefing note on including land governance in the Sustainable Development Goal framework. The note argues that incorporating good governance of land and tenure security would help meet a number of proposed sustainable development… read more

In September 2013, CCSI sent a memo to President Obama and his Administration in response to the first public reports submitted by U.S. companies in compliance with the Burma Responsible Investment Reporting Requirements. The memo applauded the U.S. Government’s efforts to encourage responsible investment in Burma, noting that robust due diligence is essential to ensuring… read more