Land Deal Dilemmas: Grievances, Human Rights and Investor Protections

Abstract

Land-based investments can create significant grievances for local individuals or communities, and host governments seeking to address those grievances must navigate a complicated landscape of legal obligations and pragmatic considerations. This report focuses on practical solutions for governments confronting grievances that arise from large-scale investments in agricultural or forestry projects.

The report considers such solutions in the context of governments’ legal obligations, particularly those imposed by international investment law, international human rights law, and investor-state contracts. Understanding the implications of this diverse range of legal obligations is particularly important in light of investors’ growing recourse to international investment arbitration, which can expose a government to liability under an international investment treaty for actions that may be in the best interest of a country and its citizens. Analyzing such obligations is a useful first step for a government seeking to protect its citizens against the negative impacts of land-based investments.

Citation

Cordes, K.Y.; Johnson, L.; Szoke-Burke, S. Land Deal Dilemmas: Grievances, Human Rights and Investor Protections. Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, New York, USA (2016) 54 pp.

Land Deal Dilemmas: Grievances, Human Rights and Investor Protections

Published 1 January 2016