TNI | October 2024

ISDS in numbers – Impacts of investment arbitration lawsuits against states in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Summary

This report presents a systematic overview of foreign investor lawsuits against countries across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) based on investment protection treaties up to 31 December 2023.

ISDS in Latin America and the Caribbean

During the 1990s, countries across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) signed hundreds of international treaties protecting foreign investment and granting investors unprecedented rights, including the right to sue states before international tribunals when they believe their profits had been affected by government actions. These countries expected that signing Bilateral Investment Protection Treaties (BITs) would be decisive in attracting foreign investment. Thirty years on, however, it is evident that BITs did not help in attracting investment, let alone in promoting development. Rather, their effects have been harmful for countries throughout the region.

The negative impacts of BITs are still largely unknown and little discussed either in political and parliamentary circles, or in civil society, academia and social movements. This report highlights the social and financial costs of the investment protection system and international arbitration as a mechanism to resolve disputes between foreign investors and states.

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