NOTE 3: I know, right? Am I seriously going to have this one drop out of queue a THIRD time? Roll on December 15th 2023!
NOTE 2: at 1909 GMT on the 15th of February 2023, the second iteration of this proposal reached quorum with Dabberwocky's approval, the 62nd all told.
NOTE: The first iteration of this proposal had the 63 approvals required for quorum when I woke up at around 2130 BST on the 20th of April 2022... but I don't remember how exactly!
Word count: 303
OOC: See also A/70/285, A/HRC/30/44, A/HRC/33/40 and the ISDS Platform FAQ. Also, I have absolutely nothing better to do right now now that McDonalds closes at 8pm. Will submit this as soon as I get McDonalds... whenever that is, anyway. (I actually submitted this a few dozen Big Macs later)
ISDS Ban
A resolution to reduce income inequality and increase basic welfare.Category: Social JusticeStrength: SignificantProposed by: Tinhampton
Recognising that many free trade agreements contain investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, which often promise fair and impartial mediation of disputes between member states and corporations - often large and foreign - that invest in them,
Concerned, however, that the main practical effect of ISDS mechanisms is - in any event - to provide a convenient cover for such corporations to effectively gain control over member states' own resources (whether natural or financial) in venues with little accountability, even less transparency, and internal oversight often only by corporate lawyers rather than neutral adjudicators, and
Believing that fundamental sapient rights should not be literally or metaphorically sold to the highest bidder, especially not via ISDS...
The General Assembly hereby:
- defines, for the purposes of this resolution:
- an "FTA" as a bilateral or multilateral free trade agreement that includes at least one member state,
- "regular courts" as domestic courts and any court organised by the World Assembly which is permitted by resolution to hear cases against member states, and
- an "ISDS mechanism" as any mechanism included in an FTA which has the effect of allowing any legal person to file suit against any party to that FTA outside of regular courts, but which does not allow any other entity to file such suit, nor allows any state party to that FTA to file suit against any legal person outside of regular courts,
- forbids the establishment of future ISDS mechanisms,
- requires member states to withdraw from all of the FTAs they are party to that contain ISDS mechanisms (although this resolution does not forbid member states from subsequently renegotiating those FTAs as to not contain ISDS mechanisms, or indeed seeking to do so), and
- strongly urges legal persons who believe that their rights have been violated to seek redress in regular courts.