CCSI has begun to analyze how international investment agreements and investor-state dispute settlement can impact the rights of human rights defenders. In particular, CCSI is considering the possibility that the international investment law regime may in a causal way exacerbate the repression and criminalization of human rights defenders in the context of investment projects. Work on investor protections and human rights defenders has included:

• In March 2018 CCSI submitted input to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights regarding “guidance on human rights defenders and the role of business.”
• In March 2018 CCSI also submitted input to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, on “criminalization and attacks against indigenous peoples defending their rights: proposals for actions to prevent and protect.”