Colombia is defending its sovereignty from the power of global corporations

Trade deals tin let planetary corporations to trample implicit the rights of governments successful the Global South. That is the connection from the Colombian government, which describes the effect of specified deals arsenic a “bloodbath” for their nationalist sovereignty. And now, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has said helium wants to renegotiate the deals his state has with the United States, European Union and the United Kingdom.

He has a beardown lawsuit because, successful the past mates of years, the US and European countries person besides been renegotiating akin commercialized and concern deals, arsenic they effort to forestall themselves from being sued successful the secretive “corporate courts” that these deals create.

Only this year, the British authorities withdrew from a toxic concern deal, called the Energy Charter Treaty, aft a slew of cases successful which European governments were sued by fossil substance corporations for taking clime enactment which supposedly damaged the profits of said businesses.

So the question present is whether European countries are going to judge that confederate countries request the aforesaid argumentation abstraction to woody with clime alteration and galore different problems they face. Or whether they volition request these countries proceed to abide by these awful, one-sided deals.

At the halfway of the problem, is thing known arsenic investor-state quality colony oregon ISDS. In essence, ISDS creates a “corporate court”, which lets multinational corporations from a commercialized spouse state writer governments successful an planetary tribunal.

These “corporate courts” person been inserted into commercialized and concern deals since the 1950s, initially dreamt up arsenic a mode of protecting Western interests successful processing countries. They created a ineligible strategy which would person made it harder for governments that mightiness privation to, say, nationalise oilfields owned by Western multinationals. So, from the outset, these deals were implicitly neocolonial.

But arsenic clip went by, the scope of these firm courts was broadened by firm lawyers. Today, corporations are capable to writer for beauteous overmuch immoderate instrumentality oregon regularisation they bash not like. Worse, these cases are often heard successful secret, overseen by firm lawyers who bash not person to interest astir the interaction of their decisions connected society, quality rights oregon the situation – lone concern law. And these “courts” usually person nary close of appeal, and tin lone beryllium utilised by overseas investors.

As such, ISDS has been utilized by baccy corporations to situation governments which privation to guarantee cigarettes are sold lone successful plain packaging. They person been utilized to situation increases to the minimum wage and windfall taxes. But increasingly, they are being utilized to situation each mode of biology regulations indispensable to halt clime change. In fact, they are becoming a large obstruction to the clime enactment governments indispensable undertake to support our satellite habitable.

As such, Western countries are uncovering themselves connected the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations, simply for exercising their antiauthoritarian duties. Unsurprisingly, they are revoking the treaties which person enactment them successful this situation. But they are overmuch little keen connected allowing different governments to instrumentality the aforesaid measures. One regularisation for us, rather different for the Global South.

The Colombian authorities has decided to telephone retired this hypocrisy and instrumentality matters into its ain hands. President Petro has said allowing corporations to settee disputes extracurricular nationalist courts should ne'er person happened, saying alternatively Colombia is forced “to enactment ourselves successful the rima of the wolf”.

He is right. In the past decade, 23 known cases person been brought against Colombia nether ISDS, galore issued by overseas mining companies successful nonstop effect to measures taken by Colombia to support the earthy situation and the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Mining elephantine Glencore, for example, sued Colombia pursuing the determination of the country’s Constitutional Court to suspend a projected enlargement to what is already the largest open-pit ember excavation successful Latin America.

The Cerrejon excavation has ever faced fierce section absorption and has resulted successful toxic contamination of air, ungraded and h2o supplies and the displacement of 35 Indigenous communities from their ancestral territories. The Constitutional Court decided that the enlargement of the excavation would severely interaction the section assemblage ecosystem.

Glencore said the court’s determination was discriminatory, unreasonable and arbitrary, and utilized ISDS to bring 4 abstracted cases against Colombia. It won the archetypal lawsuit and was awarded $19m, portion the different 3 are inactive successful process for undisclosed sums of money.

In a abstracted case, Canadian mining institution Eco Oro is claiming $696m successful compensation erstwhile the Constitutional Court ruled to support the paramos – rare, high-altitude wetland ecosystems that service arsenic captious sources of freshwater. Even though the ISDS strategy successful question is explicitly expected to warrant governments argumentation abstraction to support the environment, the arbitration sheet ruled that this biology objection did not preclude the work to wage compensation.

Colombia is not alone. In caller years countries including Kenya, South Africa and Ecuador person begun to exit this profoundly undemocratic system. One of the archetypal treaties Colombia wants to renegotiate is the UK-Colombia deal. Colombia’s ambassador to the UK has been wide successful denouncing the deal, saying these treaties “have go a drain connected Colombia and galore different countries”, specifically pointing retired the powerfulness they springiness to the fossil substance manufacture to propulsion backmost connected clime enactment and writer countries “for not earning what they intended to gain by polluting”.

But they volition look superior opposition. That means they volition request enactment from citizens and movements present successful Britain. Fortunately, the commercialized national of the precise civilian servants moving successful the UK authorities to negociate commercialized deals person already travel retired successful enactment of the Colombian position, saying “we request existent clime action”.

We indispensable articulation them. ISDS is an arcane system, but successful caller years campaigners person pulled it retired of the shadows and begun to dismantle it successful galore commercialized deals. Seventy years connected from erstwhile this neocolonial strategy archetypal appeared, we tin yet decision it. And if we privation to halt clime alteration and physique ideology we request to bash it fast. Colombia is present connected the beforehand line, and they request our support.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.