Withdrawal from Investor-State Dispute Settlement Treaties

Motion Text

That this House expresses deep concern that UK-based Cadence Minerals and REM Mexico are suing Mexico over its nationalisation of lithium, undermining the right of Mexican communities and their democratically elected government to determine how their country’s natural resources are used; opposes Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, which empower private corporations to sue governments for decisions taken in the public interest; highlights how ISDS rigs international law in favour of super-rich investors, granting them a unique legal weapon unavailable to ordinary citizens, chilling democratic decision-making and forcing states to bear unrecoverable legal costs; notes that UK-headquartered Shell has launched a claim against the Netherlands following the closure of a gas field, while investors in the quashed Cumbria coal mine are taking legal action against the UK Government; affirms that private corporations hold no absolute right to a nation’s natural resources, nor should international arbitration protect fossil fuel interests that are driving climate catastrophe and threatening living standards for millions in Britain and billions around the world; and therefore calls on the Government to work with international partners to withdraw from treaties containing ISDS provisions and establish new international frameworks that uphold popular sovereignty, human dignity and the future of our planet over corporate profit.