L

Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 20 January 2025

Debate

Colombia: Bilateral Investment Treaty

Contribution

My Lords, my noble friend will be aware that Colombia seeks renegotiation of the terms of its investment treaty with the UK, concerned—and it is not alone in this concern—that the ISDS provisions are undermining its sovereign democratic right to legislate to protect its indigenous community and environmental rights, or to implement aspects of its national peace plan. In 10 years, it has faced 23 ISDS claims by multinational companies. One was by Glencore mining, prompted by a refusal to authorise the expansion the largest open-pit coal mine—or, if it is not the largest, it is one of the largest—in the world. Last year, we withdrew from the energy charter because of concerns that its ISDS provisions would impede our policy to phase out fossil fuels. It would be somewhat inconsistent to do that while compelling Colombia to abide by similar ISDS provisions in our treaty with it.

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