23 April 2026, 4:57pm EDT

MiningWatch Joins Global Call for Governments to ‘Free Themselves’ from International System of Secretive Tribunals

Canada International Trade & Investment
Source:
MiningWatch Canada

MiningWatch Canada has signed onto an open statement alongside over 340+ civil society organisations calling on governments around the world to build a coalition to “free themselves” from a little-known international system of secretive tribunals.

Published ahead of the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, taking place in Colombia at the end of April, the statement says this system, formally known as investor-state dispute settlement or ISDS, “threatens a just transition from fossil fuels and the urgent need for a social and ecological transformation for people and the planet.”

“Canadian mining companies have a massive ISDS footprint in Latin America, using secretive tribunals to sue governments outside national legal systems. These mechanisms are profoundly undemocratic, constraining and undermining sovereignty and the right to self-determination,” says Arturo Esquerro-Cañete, MiningWatch Canada Latin America Program Coordinator

“ISDS is a tailor-made mechanism for transnational companies to deepen the destruction of the Earth, sustain impunity and plunder public finances. It reinforces the violence against those who stand up and defend land, nature and life. Governments have a duty to protect communities and nature, and must start moving in the same direction: away from ISDS, ” says Juan Camilo Sarmiento, Comité por la Defensa del Agua y Páramo de Santurbán (Committee for the Defence of Water and Páramo of Santurbán), Colombia

Background

ISDS provisions are written into many trade and investment deals. They entitle transnational corporations to sue governments in ad hoc tribunals for taking actions they allege harm their profits. Fossil fuel companies globally are by far the biggest beneficiaries of the ISDS system, having been awarded over $87 billion in claims.

In a first for a multilateral climate forum, the agenda for April’s conference prominently features the need to address the barrier ISDS poses to a fossil-fuel phase out. Colombia’s president recently announced his intention to withdraw the country from the ISDS system.

Signatories to the open letter span over 50 countries across multiple continents, plus regional and global organisations. They include 350.org, Amnesty International, Oxfam International, Friends of the Earth International, Climate Action Network Europe, Climate Action Network Latin America, Climate Action Network Australia, SOMOS SUR (Bolivia), Black Environmental Initiative (Canada), Chile Mejor sin TLC, CAJAR (Colombia), PowerShift (Germany), The Future We Need (India), Publish What You Pay Indonesia, Policy Alert (Nigeria), Global Justice Now (UK) and Public Citizen (United States).

Contacts