LSE - Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy - Investment & Human Rights Project

In Focus

Lab and Investment & Human Rights Project to host Iran human rights expert

On 11 November the Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy (Lab) and the Investment & Human Rights Project (IHR Project) will host Dr. Hadi Ghaemi in a lunchtime discussion with MSc Human Rights students at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights.      Dr. Ghaemi is an internationally recognised Iran analyst and human rights expert. He worked with Human Rights Watch as the Iran and United Arab Emirates researcher and was a member of the first UN-commissioned human rights fact finding mission to Afghanistan. He is founder and Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, an organisation that has become one of the leading groups reporting and documenting human rights violations in Iran.

Now is an important moment for Iran. Following the ease of international sanctions, foreign investment is expected to grow quickly in Iran-after decades of isolation. However, investors will encounter a number of challenges in Iran, including with respect to human rights. Dr. Ghaemi will talk about the current state of human rights in Iran and will highlight some of the challenges that investors will confront in their efforts to engage in responsible business in Iran.

By |9/11/2016|In Focus, Uncategorized, What's New|0 Comments|
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LSE Investment & Human Rights Project to host UN Panel

The LSE Investment & Human Rights Project (IHR Project) will host a high-level panel discussion at the upcoming UN Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights (UN Forum) in Geneva. The panel will discuss the experiences of governments and companies when implementing the UNGPs during major transitions–whether that be from conflict to peace or opening up to foreign investment after a period of isolation. Three country case studies will be at the centre of the discussion: Iran, Colombia and Liberia. The panelists include the ex-Attorney General from Liberia Christiana Tah, the Presidential High Commissioner on Human Rights from Colombia Paula Gaviria, the Secretary General of Ecopetrol Mónica Jiménez and the Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran Hadi Ghaemi. They will provide their insights about the specific country contexts and the challenges to UNGPs implementation. The panel will be moderated by IHR Project co-lead Andrea Shemberg.

This is the third time that the IHR Project has hosted a discussion at the UN Forum. The event this year is expected to attract over 2500 people from all over the globe. The updated programme be found here. The UN Forum is open to the public, but registration is required.

Session title: Implementing the UNGPs in times of major political, economic or social change: focus on investment
When: Monday 14 November, 16:40-18:00
Where: Palais des Nations, room XXII

 

 

 

By |9/11/2016|In Focus, Uncategorized, What's New|0 Comments|
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    Opinion piece: India tries, and fails, to strengthen sovereignty and human rights in international investment law

Opinion piece: India tries, and fails, to strengthen sovereignty and human rights in international investment law

In late December 2015 the Indian government released the final text of its new Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). A draft text had been released in March 2015 and opened to public consultation. Going forward, India will try to use this new Model as a basis for its BIT negotiations with other States.  This opinion piece argues that the final text represents a missed opportunity. It reflects the standard features of BITs as we know them today and has removed important features that would have reinforced India’s sovereignty and the protection of human rights.

 

Read the opinion piece here.

By |5/02/2016|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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    The IHRP issues recommendations on investment for the Colombian National Action Plan

The IHRP issues recommendations on investment for the Colombian National Action Plan

On 26 November Investment & Human Rights Project (IHRP) issued its recommendations to the government of Colombia to address investment policy in its National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP). The recommendations are part of the IHRP’s work to support the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights State duty to protect and improve guidance available to States on foreign direct investment and investment policy in the development of NAPs. Read more about this process and the recommendations here.

By |1/12/2015|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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    Human Rights and Investment Policymaking: Relevance and Integration, a summary of UNCTAD World Investment Forum discussions

Human Rights and Investment Policymaking: Relevance and Integration, a summary of UNCTAD World Investment Forum discussions

For the first time in its history, the UNCTAD World Investment Forum hosted panel discussions on Human Rights and Investment Policymaking at its October 2014 event. These panel discussions, designed and moderated by the LSE Investment & Human Rights Project, offered a scoping of the key issues in this area and aired the perspectives of a wide range of practitioners. Panelists represented views from government, the international arbitration practice, the private sector business community, civil society, international institutions and academia. One key outcome of the panels is that much more work needs to be done to build understanding around how investment impacts people and their rights.  This IHR Project background and summary captures the important discussions.

By |28/10/2014|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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    Expert Article on OECD report looking at the interaction between human rights and international investment law

Expert Article on OECD report looking at the interaction between human rights and international investment law

The article by Kathryn Gordon, Joachim Pohl and Marie Bouchard presents the findings of the recent OECD report “Investment Treaty Law, Sustainable Development and Responsible Business Conduct: A Fact-Finding Survey”. The report provides a starting point for looking at the interaction between human rights law and international investment law by generating internationally comparable information on how human rights concerns and related issues are referred to in investment treaty texts and arbitration decisions based on those treaties. By providing an initial indication of this interaction, the report invites further investigation of how a range of interests not strictly construed from the text of treaties – including human rights – are being addressed or not in Investor-State Dispute Settlement.

By |22/09/2014|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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    Expert Article on transparency in investment treaty arbitration and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Expert Article on transparency in investment treaty arbitration and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights

Our expert article by Julia Salasky of UNCITRAL explores the intersection between UNCITRAL’s work on transparency and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The new UNCITRAL Rules and Convention on transparency offer States the opportunity to make investment arbitration more open and accessible to the public.  States that take this opportunity make an important move towards bringing their investment policy in line with commitments reflected in the UNGPs.

By |6/08/2014|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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Expert Article on Human Rights Clauses for Commercial Contracts

As Antony Crockett, Senior Associate with Herbert Smith Freehills, describes in this expert article, business enterprises are now under increased pressure to ensure that human rights are respected throughout their operations. The pressure comes in part from the 2011 endorsement of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, related revisions to key international standards, some domestic reforms and revised lending standards regarding human rights. As a result, one strategy companies are considering is the integration of human rights requirements into their commercial agreements to help demonstrate their expectations of business partners and to help hold business partners to improved standards of performance. This new exclusive expert article written for the Investment & Human Rights Learning Hub explores this strategy and its implications.

By |4/06/2014|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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IHR Project interviews Toby Landau QC

Andrea Saldarriaga, Lead of the LSE Investment & Human Rights Project, interviews Toby Landau QC, arbitration practitioner and barrister from Essex Court Chambers, on the relationship between arbitration and human rights. In his interview, Toby reflects on how human rights issues are relevant to investment arbitration, how these issues are being raised and handled in arbitration proceedings and what challenges this poses for arbitration practitioners and the protection of human rights. This is the first of the Project’s learning videos on arbitration and human rights.

By |10/04/2014|In Focus, What's New|0 Comments|
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