TNI is committed to exposing injustice in different arenas of policy, even when few others are speaking out. This was the case with our long-standing work on the issue of the unjust protection given to foreign investors, known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms. These allow corporations to sue governments for regulations that protect the public and the environment. Our work paid off as awareness of these injustices grew and anger spread.
By 2015, ISDS had become such a hotly debated issue in 2015 that the EU Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrőm admitted that ISDS (investor-state dispute mechanism) had become the “most toxic acronym in Europe”. As a result, the EU was forced to introduce its first reforms to ISDS.