Implemented jointly by ICTSD and the World Economic Forum , the E15Initiative convenes world-class experts and institutions to generate strategic analysis and recommendations for government, business, and civil society geared towards strengthening the global trade and investment system for sustainable development. International investment law coexists with a wide range of other substantive regimes of international law, including human rights law, humanitarian law, environmental law, intellectual property law, and various regional legal orders. The interactions between investment law and these other regimes have come to be seen as increasingly problematic, with stakeholders questioning the legitimacy of international investment law and even the purposes of the international legal order more generally. As international investment tribunals have, in the eyes of many observers, failed to adequately take into account these other substantive norms of international law, concerns have arisen that international investment law privileges the treaty-based rights of investors over the rights of states and, particularly, the values embodied in other areas of international law, such as human rights and environmental protection. Such concerns about the interaction of investment law with other substantive areas of international law are particularly acute today given the ongoing negotiation of “mega-regional” investment agreements (often embedded in trade...
Written by William Burke-White