Report of the International Mission to Colombia

Type: Reports
Date: 15 August 2023
Campaigns: Trade

The fightback against investors suing Colombia

In May 2023, we joined a delegation of 13 representatives from social and environmental justice organisations from eight countries in the Americas and Europe to visit Colombia and share experiences of struggles against the global investment protection regime. The mission learnt firsthand about the peoples and ecosystems threatened by investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) lawsuits, as well as the environmental, social and cultural harm caused by the extractive projects of transnational companies bringing such cases, from indigenous communities fighting the coal mining in La Guajira and defenders of the mountain wetlands of Santander.

This report gathers learnings from Colombian movements’ struggle against the system of corporate courts, and amplifies their call that the government of Gustavo Petro review, renegotiate or terminate the country’s international investment agreements that contain this toxic mechanism blocking the state’s social and environmental action.

The petition calling for a citizen’s audit of Colombia’s trade and investment treaties that allow such transnational abuses can be signed here.