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often 2016 across europe tens of thousands mobilize against planned free trade deals with the u.s. and canada belgium's will only region is blocking sita amazing european pact with canada thrusting the in you into crisis. mode and is focused on a little known provision routinely included in trade deals at laos foreign investors to bring investment disputes before an international arbitration tribunal and multinational corporations to assume sovereign states for billions of dollars. but what are these tribunals who handles their cases and who represents the interests of the people after all it's taxpayers who foot the bill.

to get a clearer picture with salmon and opaque system that circumvents national courts and effectively hands foreign investors the power to pressure the democratically elected governments. whether it's an industrial power or developing country every nation is vulnerable and vesta lawsuits against aids impact everything from human rights and health to public finances and the environment this report sheds light on the extraordinary power of international arbitration tribunals. are an. the for human you clear disaster shocked the world and profoundly changed german

energy policy. driven by the country's anti nuclear movement protests in 450 cities underlined growing public opposition to nuclear power. under pressure chancellor longer than arkle made a decision the country's planned phase out of nuclear energy would be brought forward. by focus iemma changed my attitude toward nuclear energy germany will cease using nuclear energy by 2022 in that thang. the chancellor's decision to exit nuclear power was written into law 4 months later when the stock overwhelmingly backed the 13th amendment of the nuclear power act. soon after the 7 oldest nuclear reactors was shut down. they included the.

plants both operated by the swedish utility voting 5. involve responded by filing a complaint against the legislation at the constitutional court in calls for germany's highest pools of civil and criminal jurisdiction. but as a foreign investor it also had the option of bringing germany to international arbitration. the company had successfully taken this route before why not try again in may 2012 it submitted a separate claim against germany's nuclear phaseout this one at the u.s. based i c s id the proceedings took place in. washington even though this was a purely european matter. good morning lesia and i'm i over here misty arbitration hearing in that case number 3 are being slashed 12 fresh 12. in

a matter between one 4th and for the claimants the federal republic of germany respondents. the presiding arbitrator of us are front and bare button for was represented by swedish attorney cuyahoga the federal republic of germany by 7 a concord. vattenfall to claim 4700000000 euros in damages. doesn't matter if the parliament has adopted the law in the most democratic way. it can still violate international obligations that the state has on the table in the international treaty. or bristly it is for each individual state to decide where the law they want to sign such treaties were germany's trying to do in this arbitration is tricks ploy to fukushima disaster. to create a narrative that would excuse its wrongdoing. you can put perfume on it but the

bottom line here is that the international and the governed this dispute. legally germany couldn't challenge a treaty it had already ratifies but it could prove that the swedish energy giant had failed to meet its obligations creating a threat to public safety. claimants now seek compensation for their own business failure billions for plants which were not tarrie for their problems but apparently in the. reality a burning transfer meter is totally normal as are busting pipes also normal and back in fall soon of us are corroded barrels with radioactive waste . but if i have shown you a promotional video of the crime of power plant in that video none of the events

that are listed here on this night feature and both of them have been standing still. not because of fukushima not because of the moratorium not because of the 13th amendment but because of a multitude of incidents. criminal brutal shed light on a ray of shortcomings to feel understood. a nuclear physicist with greenpeace was appointed an expert witness by the federal constitutional court he conducted a thorough investigation of the planting facts. and here experience nuclear experts were questioning why these reactors were facing so many problems and anomalies for the feel of. the business

which sealed chromos fate was a fire in one of the transformers in 2007. that machines on some of the hotter the transformer had about 70 tons of oil in it. when this oil caught fire it created a huge blaze. the entire reactor and surrounding area was envelop in black smoke. or deceptive and that revealed many defects it came from the fire protection system was totally insufficient water reserves ran out while the fire was still going strong clue which was from an external short circuit can trigger a chain reaction that ends in disaster. button for the lawyer hid behind the law and strict interpretation to the legal guidelines to avoid any recognition of company liability.

well it's very clear that this group of people or many of them have been educated particular they are all educated in this particular way of looking at international law as a sort of technical matter and at the same time thinking that giving companies as many rights and privileges will benefit the global economy so lawyers are not trained in thinking about consequences of their cases lawyers are trained in thinking about a way apply the law. there's only a french trial for this and the french term is the point. so this is what this really applies here people think in a very similar way this case is very controversial and has generated much public debate now why is that because it's an arbitration which should never have been brought under the energy charter treaty and under the exit convention the reason for the amendment was the fukushima

action is that correct that is correct if that is a public perception. how would that legally translate into the investment protection. you know sure i make a number of assumptions and i don't ask you to do anything but be sure that this would be because it is almost impossible hypothetical because you are. assuming that the public is wrong and the right or wrong the perception changes in the public how does that translate into legally into the city. and i was listening to fatten fats are opening this morning claiming that the thirteen's and men and it was a political decision and they've said it quite often. i wonder when

political has become such a dirty word it comes from the greek but political us which means relating to the people to the citizens to the state and democracy is nothing if not political it is government off the people by the people for the people it has to be political that's a definition and it's certainly not a dirty word. multinational corporations reject the political and democratic considerations of one state as if they operated outside politics and above the law but the lure still exist. while button 5 case against germany continued in washington a verdict was reached by the constitutional court in cannes who or where the company launched its 1st complaint.

the court ruled that the government's decision to shut down its reactors ahead of schedule was compatible with the constitution barton said power companies were entitled to compensation for losses incurred as a result of the decision. and what infocom not so vattenfall could no longer argue that it needed an international arbitrator to protect its interests because its claim to protection was recognised. was granted the right to compensation within the framework of our constitution so naturally it would be disastrous if despite our constitutional regulations a completely different outcome emerged from the proceedings in washington that would end the democratic rule of law in this country and. its own views inclusion the shut down of nuclear energy in germany is basically a done deal and the anti nuclear side is justified to feel like the winner. we

were fired for. for german state simply shocking what vattenfall did here us must confide in me is protected under german law. as a foreign company it was not treated unfairly it was treated just like the domestic companies in the energy sector. so it's clearly superfluous to take the case to an external arbitration tribunal a ballpark figure for reasonable compensation for vattenfall would be in the region of several hundreds of millions of euros but in no way could it be the 4700000000 euros that bought in fall was seeking. the government will lay down the compensation sum in an amendment to existing legislation that then has to be approved by the bundestag. the process is very different in private up attraction the panel of corporate lawyers

has the power to award much higher compensation sums without any outside ravine or appeal. and a considerable portion of the very high legal costs ranging between $4.00 and $10000000.00 usually has to be paid by the country involved in critiquing the system we of course we need to to criticize also the power of the companies and we need to criticize what corporate lawyers do but we also need to point our fingers at the states and have we have to really say look. states created the systems and states have the power to get rid of the system that's and even if they are colombia or peru or developing countries even if they're mali and what have you the states have the power to get rid of the system if they choose to do so. but do they actually want to do so governments often have close ties. to big business

button for example have the terms lizzie and she even appointed its former c.e.o. now is good enough of sun and special advisor to the government on climate protection. like. most state leaders are in 2 minds about the issue on the one hand they want to attract foreign investors with trade agreements that offer multinationals attractive conditions. on the other they want to enact environmental labor and public health legislation that is often not in the interests of multinational corporations. no need for a new currency it's time we admit that we're dealing with 2 different systems of power. the 1st is the traditional power system the one that is increasingly being reduced to a folkloric accessory. and a kind of shadow play to entertain the public so i'm talking about the countries

traditionally discussed in the newspapers france germany australia japan brazil the us and so on. the works alongside this there is a 2nd entirely autonomy power system that functions totally differently it doesn't copy the existing model it operates according to its very own rules so it appears multinationals view themselves as an independent system set apart from everything else in another dimension totally detached from the rest of the world leader and the rest of the world in other words the traditional states their laws and judiciary must be dominated by this independent system of corporations and function according to its rules. and the actors in the system are completely invisible you don't see them at all. only live well. together we welcome you all to today's hearing. in this case the red and crew

group inc is claiming to vs the republic of peru as respondent and that is the exit case number u n c t so ash 13 slash one in the 1990 s. i was very interested in development strategies for emerging markets it was a very interesting exciting time after the end of the cold war as countries look for new strategies for sustainable development and i thought the flows of investment are fascinating but what is going to happen in 5 or 10 years from now. and that's the moment when i said i want to focus on the disputes that are inevitable. amid the steadily growing number of investor state disputes the global power of international

investment tribunals has reached a moment proportions at the center of this case is a company that has caused suffering in both the u.s. and. the brink a group has a long track record as a polluter. it's owned by iran that the american billionaire industrialist he began his career as a wall street credit analyst broncos' lead smelter points in the small town of herculaneum in the state of missouri mining contamination by a subsidiary don't run peru did the same to la roja high up in the andes the 2 communities joined forces to take a stand against rancor. back in about 2001 i was taking a bus from one guy you're up in the central highlands of peru down to the coast capital city where my family and i lived. before you get to the city you start to smell the city. you smell think you smell led to that you see the vegetation begins

to just sit out. and much of the rock is coated with white gray it almost looks like calcium deposits. and we stopped the bus and i got off to stretch my legs we were taking a break there in lahore year for about 10 minutes and there were a couple kids who were walking down the street with their mother they were hacking their lungs out they were coughing really really bad as we went to the side of the smelter the smokestack is. emitting tons of pollution which you see it's the passive contend with. what's leaking out all the stakeholders of the smelter. there's no filter on that there's no chimney to get up in and out of the valley. emilia you know who you know you know.

you were good dark at noon because of the black smoke. smell was terrible it engulfed the whole town we set out here the smoke would drift toward us we'd feel it immediately it made our throat and head hurt so yeah. our eyes would start watering and we call choking sometimes to the point where we couldn't even speak which you could services and sometimes children were confined to their rooms and they couldn't go out because there was too much smoke. the company didn't care and did nothing about it. he just carried on polluting and dumping its waste. in the state allow this contamination the peruvian government knew what was going on here everyone could see how damaging it was and the state should have done something about it but it didn't care they'll go and put those you know. there was a sense that the proven government was not going to do anything to restrain the door run the company from polluting that community of la toyia we didn't have

a government that would. force compliance on foreign companies the power balance was too out of whack it's so favor the company in this situation that that made it very difficult for the national government in peru to enforce environmental standards. when renko purchased the copper lead and zinc smelter from the peruvian government to $997.00 it agreed to conditions it would have great the facility to make it less harmful to the environment. the company signed up to a new environmental management plan but instead of investing in clean up its plant in peru i run it used. to evade taxes he funneled the money into 2 of his other mining companies in the u.s. state of missouri and on the cayman islands. meanwhile earlier has become so badly contaminated that it featured on one side china number

and a ranking of the world's 10 most polluted places the contract to give the facility wrinkle was a very very bad contract with a lot of gaps and a lot of things that unfortunately the government of assume that it's all to make more attractive the facility to the private sector it was the result of a very a responsible. company that's reg an arbor a week government that approved for many time to pause full. obligation on research with quality start the presbyterian church became more and more aware of the interconnections between. the u.s. economy and. emerging economies around the world particularly around the issue of extractive industries and we asked the question what if there was a connection nexus connecting folks in missouri with

the folks in peru. hunter for a was working in peru as a presbyterian missionary from past to out of stock in say nurse he heard about another day one facility causing as much environmental devastation as the one in peru a lead smelter and herculaneum in the u.s. state of missouri. this too was a rental subsidiary. accompanied by the peruvian archbishop petro beretta visited the town. exchange between the affected communities in peru and the u.s. . her stock had organized a meeting she invited. environmental health specialists from st louis university triangle and 2 representatives from. your community. we had

a conversation had a meal together and talked for a couple of hours really just sharing experiences around the circle and as each person spoke every testimony that was given from people in her killing any of the folks allowed or you would say that's the same situation we're facing the same situation in our city. the alvin ised this sense of solidarity between folks from north america and folks from peru as they realize they were facing the same issue and the same enemy and the stories were the same same things that were happening same relationship with the company same kind of intimidation and threats same kind of denying their resignations same health issues in both places so the 1st thing that we saw as our task was to provide for the community accurate scientific data there was no doubt on the table and so people didn't have any leverage to be able to. hold to keep the

company accountable. the past as awareness campaign began to bear fruit. in 2005 a university of st louis research team headed by professor from the serrano traveled to peru to conduct blood tests on residents of the royal. you're agreeing to those mean. in 2005 scientists from missouri. to do a comparative study on the lead content in the blood of the respective populations of lot of royer and in the city of concepcion it was. the only the results were alarming. and seal they didn't just find

lead. they found a whole cocktail of heavy metals. such as cadmium men who you are snake and mercury in at an angle it was awful for us people found that. not to find out we had all these substances in our bodies and had no idea. many things have happened here that we could no longer tolerate. this is unfortunately a very complicated matter especially in a case like this between a private company and the state. i know you've been fighting for your rights for 10 years but i can assure you that we will carry on and we will continue to support you we will continue to monitor what is happening here. was the president of

the movement for health she was just a leader of the local community that connected with. non-profit organizations. who are connected with. folks. has achieved a great deal. not just for a few people but for the entire population. we've also fought for those who have no voice for the children. the company job did everything it could to silence workers and anyone else on the topic of pollution in la. yes he will more.

important than ever that i want is not simply alerting they're really going to i mean there's. if you have a level of condemning those who did talk about it in me they. were declared enemies of the company. and a lot of royer but. sometimes i feel bad when my husband says to me we didn't gain anything by sacrificing our shop. they forced us to leave. what did your movement do for us now that's how my husband talks and you see you and i tell him. i didn't do this for my own personal gain that's what you give you. i did it to change things but to make a difference to people's health. care so that they wouldn't continue to destroy our health and.

the blood analyses carried out by the u.s. researchers so division and the local population. leaflet against the vampires from missouri who were sucking the blood of peruvian children. activists like rosa mara received death threats as they worked to raise awareness of heavy metal poisoning. the ranker group meanwhile threatened to shut the plant. to happening in. a sea bed there are a lot and there were a lot of for a short mostly by the what good is of the facility and also because of the old thought that we would all yet to have the facility continue operating proving government was continually assaulted by the threats of the doe run company which

said $4000.00 jobs will be gone tomorrow local folks desperately needed for jobs so it became a significant issue and every time there was a threat or the rumor moved through town saying that the company might be closed or the approving government was going to be forcing the closure of the company folks would hit the streets. and there are you know not. you know you can argue with. us you know that there. is yeah. that we call your. mother only i didn't know you were able i mean i just love it if you believe it was

only very much. when i started i'm not going to start telling the novels that these to be a little you know your looks that you can see because they and their supporters abroad look a little you know it's a momentous time when you some of those in your little you know somebody in the same boat who's coming to visit 4 percent of. the living not used. list unless you were not i would never thought i could do something i mean on the. the results of the medical study were clear that the smelter was poisoning the people of la arroyo the findings left reuben anxious about his eldest son one. a couple here brooke that these are the exact values of ones blood tests. that lead content in blood 35.34 arsenic 60.78. cadmium content in your own 2.67. is the mucus membranes in his

mouth are infected and he has a speech impediment we can't talk properly it says here the child must leave. 97 percent of the children had loads of false. sunless highest $30.40 micrograms per deciliter which would be crucial children in such conditions in the us will be hospitalized here in the us. but. there are some significant cognitive disability there's some significant motor skill coordination issues children a lot oh yeah it would be losing between $1.00 and $3.00 i.q. points for every year that they lived in the city. to look a see this but that one needs intensive treatment. but i don't have the money at

the. level that he does you know that many of you pick up at the lamas that meaning you'll simply do not look out of our basic it will say something it at least it will be i'm open one of these if you will you that i lay in place i believe that all muslims you complete me until they know to my family in belize ok. i get that it. is katie but it's a school nearly. for us you want to get noise that we have all of us only so we're not going to get a little of all the bullshit that base will be good at that means getting more serious and yeah it will be us and that's it it will be us here he immediately is going to hear he's told we got it now we're going. in 2009 the peruvian government cited doe run peru for environmental violations in the arroyo claiming financial problems franco shut the facility its license was revoked

now i remember turn the tables. accuse peru of indirect expropriation and found an arbitration lawsuit against the state the case was heard in washington residents of la arroyo were not asked to testify that being the case please let's invite mr hamilton to begin his or submissions thank you. foresaw enough to release its one of their record source but that looks of course it's one of. callie's us costs us yglesias. yours by the race marred the race who impress us you thought about how glorious. your economic or. your man or. the treaty allows an investor to bring a claim against the state either on the claimant's own behalf. for its own injuries

for state conduct or it may bring a claim on behalf of an enterprise that it owns and controls for loss or damage that the enterprise has suffered. free trade treaties have this clause a state investor clause which will allow companies corporations to sue local community is government groups states nations if they feel that their profits are being undermined in any way past present or future profits. that means if local communities that are being poisoned if they object if they do anything that the company feels is interrupting their profits. they can be sued the local folks in peru have real fears a lot of doubts about the arbitration system feeling that it's almost like it's described as a faceless jury no one knows they're not accountable to us we don't know who they

are we don't know who got them into those positions of arbitration put the decision making it took it away from local community and people who would live to reap the consequences of those decisions and put it in the hands of people whom we don't even know. to give residents have a voice peruvian archbishop petro beretta secured a public hearing before a u.s. congressional subcommittee. and financial serrano from st louis university testified there and july 2012. we have sound scientific evidence think rape threat to the people of the environment as is the studies have shown. great concern again is there multiple exposure all those toxic metals affecting the body and they kill the facts. so a discussion of the economic and legal in other factors related to the relationship

between the united states government and peruse it to framework of the u.s. trade free agreement i believe i believe we must put and therefore says we must make a priority of the health needs and rights of the people of iraq especially the children and especially the unborn we have children being born with a lead in their bodies and that is something that we consider completely unacceptable and like you know as miss america she would sing. nicely akiko. i am not here as a political leader nor as a technical expert. i am here as a citizen of law. and as a mother worried for her children moyes was loyal and his was never happier that those who support joe run have thrown stones at my house and threatened me with death yet the government gave to run several opportunities to end the pollution at

the metal smelt house and. the company never did anything and now it has the nerve to sue the peruvian state and that at least that up at a one. on the half of more than 1000 children from not a royal noise incident notice filed a suit against iran that in missouri. in 2010 a cool day ordered remco to pay $65000000.00 to clean up pollution at its leg refinery and her kid mania. concerning the children of. ironic came to parun i'm not record was liable for any personal injury claims. probably after filing the notice of intent in december of 2010 rinko ran directly to the court of the united states in an effort to remove. claims brought by children of

roya from state court to federal court they'd rinko did that by bringing to the attention of the united states federal court the existence of a treaty dispute that case played out over a period of years and in 2016 the international tribunal found that ring to 0 had failed to comply with that obligation under the treaty to waive local proceedings it's a very specific requirement the interpretation of that requirement was agreed upon by peru and the united states and the tribunal found that there was a violation of that treaty requirement. the claim there to be arbitration will frankel was refused because of formal every cells but sure wrinkle can again

wreak label resealed the government so that is why we do need to act with a lot of careful to avoid to adopt the risk of having a regular gigs the prove you have meant. it was a symbolic victory for the peruvian state. though it wasn't convicted the state nevertheless had to pay the legal fees between food and $8000000.00. the residents of had khamenei and the us have received compensation the people of lower area are still waiting and continue to breathe poisoned air my greatest hope is that people particularly united states will recognize the cost of a wax legal system that allows corporate polluters to. literally get away with murder. at some point we've got to recognize the fact that

while investors have rights. no one has the right to take away the intelligence of any child and no one has the right to contribute towards children in any given. the outcry and belgium's will only region served as a wake up call for europe and the blogs institutions to action and march 2018 the european court of justice revoked a 22000000 euro fine imposed by an arbitration court against slovakia the court ruled that arbitration clauses between member states violate. that could set a precedent for future investment disputes between the e.u. members. with its judgement. europe's top court appeared to be asserting its sovereignty and power to legislation.

and the european commission is adapting its model for investment protection and future trade deals with plans to set up a public international and permanent court that could replace private arbitration tribunals. let's not delude ourselves multinationals won't give up the power offered by investment up or treasure they can rely on the world's best attorneys to defend them in the name of free trade agreements signed by countries in the past. but awareness of the shadowy system gives civil society a choice it can remain vigilant protest and resist to prevent states from bowing to the economic and financial pressure exerted by corporations. to defend the power of states to enact legislation for the good of their people and to protect

the health of citizens and the environment around the world so that government decisions benefit the common good and not the commercial gain of multinational corporations. what unites. what divides. the money the books of the trojan horse. what binds the continent together. answers and stories aplenty the. spotlight on people come up.

to 90 minutes on w. . her 1st in school in the jungle. her 1st clean lesson. and then doris grand moment arrives join your ranting on her journey back to freedom in our interactive documentary tour of entering it and returns home. to. their super shot. themselves away super secretive then you'll hear the jingling coins and super rich definitely around 20000000000 more or less. how do germany's wealthiest people live why do they keep such a low profile. snoop around to catch a glimpse. of the good top of the world

to display of the super rich starts to tests double. play. play play. play. this is d.w. news live from berlin remembering d.-day the hour allied troops landed in normandy to free europe 75 years ago this invasion marked the beginning of the end of the nazi regime we'll go live to the commemorations in northern france later in the show yesterday world leaders to join britain squeal.