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Meeting Summary Of Colloquium On Policy, Law, Contracts, And Sustainable Development, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In November 2014, CCSI and the Institute for Human Rights and Business co-convened a colloquium on policy, law, contracts, and sustainable development, with a particular focus on large-scale investments in the extractive industries and the agriculture sector. The colloquium provided an opportunity for practitioners to share information on their related work, as well as to reflect on current practices and remaining gaps regarding efforts to embed sustainability and human rights into large-scale deals. This outcome document provides a summary of the discussion, while its annex includes information on participants’ relevant programs, initiatives, and tools.

Toward Win-Win Sustainable Development, Linda Moon

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

An interview with Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.

The U'Wa Struggle To Protect Their Cultural Lands: A Framework For Reviewing Questions Of Sovereignty And The Right To Environmental Integrity For Indigenous Peoples, Jenny R. Culler

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Intersection Of International Human Rights And Domestic Environmental Regulation, Rebecca M. Bratspies

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Slides: “Human Sustainability” In Natural Resources Industries: The New Frontier In Compliance, Social Responsibility, Disclosure, And Transparency, T. Markus Funk

Natural Resource Industries and the Sustainability Challenge (Martz Winter Symposium, February 27-28)

Presenter: T. Markus Funk, Partner, Perkins Coie

21 slides

Why The Extractive Industry Should Support Mandatory Transparency: A Shared Value Approach, Julien Topal, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Transparency Amendment, included in the Dodd‐Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, can be an important tool in curtailing the resource curse that so heavily burdens resource‐rich developing countries by shedding light on opaque payments between the extractive sector and host countries. From the get‐go, however, extractive industry companies have fiercely opposed the new mandatory disclosure requirements as set out in this regulation. The corporate opposition is for the largest part motivated by the fear of a competitive disadvantage that derives from the fact that the amendment is housed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and thus …

Is There Blood On Your Hands-Free Device?: Examining Legislative Approaches To The Conflict Minerals Problem In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Emily Veale

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article argues that Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, which mandates SEC disclosures for conflict minerals, is insufficient to address the violence and governance issues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It advocates for comprehensive legislation that ties U.S. foreign assistance to specific reforms in the DRC, such as military and governance improvements, to effectively combat the conflict minerals crisis. The SEC’s role in promoting social and foreign policy goals is critiqued, and the article proposes a tiered incentive system to encourage meaningful change in the DRC’s mining sector.

Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum: The Alien Tort Statute's Jurisdictional Universalism In Retreat, Kenneth Anderson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell), a long-running Alien Tort Statute (ATS) case brought by Nigerian plaintiffs alleging aiding and abetting liability against various multinational oil companies for human rights violations of the Nigerian government in the 1990s, including a non-US Shell corporation, first came before the US Supreme Court in the 2011-2012 term, following a sweeping Second Circuit holding that there was no "liability for corporations" under the ATS. In oral argument, however, several Justices asked a different question from corporate liability: noting that the case involved foreign plaintiffs, foreign defendants, and conduct taking place entirely on foreign sovereign …

Background Paper For Second Workshop On Contract Negotiation Support For Developing Host Countries, Vale Columbia Center On Sustainable International Investment, Humboldt-Viadrina School Of Governance

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) and the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance (HSVG) have initiated a process to discuss the desirability and feasibility of mechanisms to provide negotiation support for developing host countries in their negotiations with major investors.

At a first workshop held in October 2011, participants agreed on the need for an expansion of support for developing countries in their contract negotiations.

A second workshop was held at Columbia University in July 2012 that undertook a gap analysis between the existing sources of support for developing countries in relation to complex contracts and the countries’ needs for …

Foreign Investment And Indigenous Peoples: Options For Promoting Equilibrium Between Economic Development And Indigenous Rights, George K. Foster

Michigan Journal of International Law

The quotations above refer to distinct conflicts that are widely separated by time and geography but remarkably similar in other respects. The first describes events leading to the Black Hills War of 1876, in which the U.S. Army forced the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne onto reservations to make way for gold mining by non-Indians. The second describes a violent episode in a conflict between native groups and the Peruvian government, which began in 2009 when the government took steps to expand mining and oil operations by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the Peruvian Amazon. In both cases, outside commercial interests …

Addressing Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation Through Insurance For Overseas Investments: The Example Of The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In 2008, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) estimated that investments of between US$540–570 billion in physical assets and other financial flows will be needed to adequately reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to combat climate change; additionally, tens and possibly hundreds of billions of dollars may be necessary to enable countries to adapt to the phenomenon’s challenges. Through climate negotiations under the UNFCCC in Copenhagen and Cancun, developed country governments committed to provide developing countries roughly US$30 billion between 2010 and 2012 and to mobilize approximately US$100 billion per year by 2020 for climate change activities. …

Clouded Diamonds: Without Binding Arbitration And More Sophisticated Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, The Kimberley Process Will Ultimately Fail In Ending Conflicts Fueled By Blood Diamonds , Shannon K. Murphy

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

In 2003, under an initiative of the United Nations (U.N.), various nations of the world gave life to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)-a method by which consumers of all levels could know the origin of their diamonds-with the Scheme only certifying those harvested from legal, government-run mines. The Scheme's drafters believed that, if given the choice, consumers would choose to buy diamonds mined legally, with profits flowing to legitimate sources of power. However, the KPCS as it stands is voluntary and lacks the teeth needed to deter its violators. The KPCS lacks a binding arbitration agreement and needs a …

About Sdlp

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Corporations And Human Rights Law: The Emerging Consensus And Its Effects On Women's Employment Rights, Tiana O'Konek

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the current international human rights framework fails to adequately address corporate human rights abuses, particularly affecting women in the garment industry. This governance gap stems from the statist nature of international law, which overlooks non-state actors like corporations. Women in the garment industry, often confined to informal and precarious work, face systemic discrimination and exclusion from core labor protections, highlighting the need for a more inclusive and enforceable framework.

Paul Timmermans On Invisible War: The United States And The Iraq Sanctions. By Joy Gordon. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2010. 359 Pp., Paul Timmermans

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Invisible War: The United States and the Iraq Sanctions. By Joy Gordon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. 359 pp.

Regulating Resource Curses: Institutional Design And Evolution Of The Blood Diamond Regime, Lesley Wexler

Cardozo Law Review

The opening and expansion of global markets creates and exacerbates resource curses, or the phenomenon in which natural resource abundance creates governance problems. Yet international legal scholarship has been slow to recognize the relationship between freer trade and the financing of internal conflicts. While legal academics have long debated the role of law in addressing conflict generally, few have systematically addressed the intersection of trade regulation and the prevention or abatement of internal conflict. This Article looks closely at a recent regulatory effort to address the global trade in "blood diamonds," which are a particularly destructive example of a resource …

Third Party Petitions As A Means Of Protecting Voluntarily Isolated Indigenous Peoples, Nickolas M. Boecher

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Home State Responsibility And Local Communities: The Case Of Global Mining, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Home states that are actively engaged in global mining have considered and rejected calls to regulate the conduct of transnational mining corporations so as to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harms. This reluctance to regulate is often expressed as a concern that extraterritorial regulation will conflict with the sovereignty of foreign states. This paper argues that the public international law of jurisdiction is permissive of home state regulation that can be justified under the nationality or territoriality principles, provided that there is no true conflict with an exercise of host state jurisdiction. In the human rights and environment …

Yukos Risk: The Double Edged Sword, Joseph Tanega, Dmitry Gololobov

ExpressO

Abstract The article focuses on elucidating the meaning of Yukos risk mainly in terms of corporate bankruptcy litigation in multiple jurisdictions, including, the U.S., U.K., The Netherlands, and Russia. The emphasis is on understanding the various legal theories and the court decisions reached so far in this continuing legal saga.

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Bond Repudiation, Tax Codes, The Appropriations Process And Restitution Post-Eminent Domain Reform, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

This brief comment suggests where the anti-eminent domain movement might be heading next.

Using Capture Theory And Chronology In Eminent Domain Proceedings, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

Capture theory--in which private purpose is substituted for government purpose--sheds light on a technique which is coming into greater use post-Kelo v. New London. That case affirmed that eminent domain use need only be rationally related to a legitimate government purpose. Capture theory focuses litigators' attention on "government purpose." That is a question of fact for the trier of fact. This article shows how to use civil discovery in order to show the Court that private purpose has been substituted for government purpose. If it has, the eminent domain use fails, because the use does not meet minimum scrutiny. This …

Linking Natural Resource Exploitation And Primary Health Care In Developing Countries, Alexandros Zervos

ExpressO

In exchange for loans from international financial institutions, natural resources companies should be made contractually responsible for achieving specific primary health care targets in certain developing countries they invest in. Primary health care is crucial for social/economic development, but many developing countries’ governments fail in its provision. Any effort to make natural resources companies responsible for primary health care would need to focus on goal setting, monitoring and legal enforcement. The latter would include both monetary sanctions and incentives tied to specific targets. The challenges facing this project are significant, but none are problematic enough to prevent its implementation.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Why Do Plaintiffs Sue Private Parties Under Section 1983?, Jack M. Beermann

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

African Private Security Companies And The Alien Tort Claims Act: Could Multinational Oil And Mining Companies Be Liable?, Jennifer L. Heil

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper focuses specifically on the possible liability under the ATCA of multinational oil and mining companies operating in Africa. First, it will examine the relationships between the multinational oil and mining companies, private security forces and African governments. In doing so, it will describe the actual activities and operations of the private security forces in conjunction with the oil and mining corhpanies. Second, this paper will outline the elements of liability under the ATCA. This will include a discussion of recent cases in which foreign nationals have sued multinational companies in the United States for alleged human rights abuses …

Talisman Energy, Sudan, And Corporate Social Responsibility, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

No abstract provided.