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american tanks. for some 2016 across europe tens of thousands move allies against planned free trade deals with the u.s. and canada belgium's well in the region is blocking seiza amazing european pact with canada thrusting the in you into crisis. 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 soon 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 we examine an opaque system that circumvents national court and effectively hands foreign investors the power to push a democratically elected government. whether it's an industrial power or developing country every nation is vulnerable investor lawsuits against states 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. for human eclair disaster shocked the world and profoundly changed german energy

policy. driven by the country's anti nuclear movement protests in 450 cities underlined a 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. focus iemma changed my attitude toward nuclear energy germany will cease using nuclear energy by 2022 in that thank. the chancellor's decision to exit nuclear power was written into law 4 months later the bundestag 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. in father sponsored by filing a complaint against the legislation at the constitutional court in cars who are germany's highest pools of civil and criminal jurisdiction. but as a foreign investor it also had the option of bringing germany to an 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. well good morning lucia newman i'll bring a wristy arbitration hearing in dikshit case number we are being slashed 12 thresh 12. in a matter between one 4th and fall a b.

claimants and the federal republic of germany as respondents. the presiding arbitration of what our young friend and bear button felt was represented by swedish attorney cuyahoga the federal republic of germany by sabina khan caught. vattenfall 24700000000 euros in damages. doesn't matter if a paul of a has adopted a law in the rose democratic way. it can still violate international obligations that the state has undertaken in the international treaty. or bristly it is for each individual state to decide whether a lot they want to sign such treaties were germany is trying to do in this arbitration is tricks ploy to fukushima disaster. to create a narrative that would be. it's wrong doing. you can put perfume on it but the

bottom line here is that the international peace to govern this dispute. legally germany couldn't challenge a treaty it had already ratified 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 is for their problems but apparently in that. reality a burning transfer meter is totally normal as are bursting pipes also normal involved in false universe are corroded barrels with radioactive waste . but in fall have shown you a promotional video of the crime of power plant in that video none of the events

that are listed here on the site feature and plans but 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 groups 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 plants the facts. experience nuclear experts were questioning why these reactors were facing so many problems and anomalies for the field of. ha don't you strong. the business

is sealed chromosphere it was a fire in one of the transformers in 2007. and. that machine guns from out the hotel to 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 came from the fire protection system was totally insufficient water reserves ran out while the fire was still going strong just clue which was from an external short circuit can trigger a chain reaction that ends in disaster. but unfolds lawyer head behind the law and strict interpretations of legal guidelines to avoid any recognition of company liability. what is very clear that this group of people or many of them have been educated in

a particular where 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 triumph at this and the french term is the. this is what this really applies here people think in the very very 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 his 13th amendment.

was the fukushima excellent you're correct that is correct if that is a public perception. how would that legally translate into the investment protection only c t. you know sure i make a number of assumptions i don't ask you to do anything but sure this would be because it is almost impossible hypothetical because you're. assuming that the public is wrong and is the most evil right or wrong some of the perception changes in the public how does that translate into legally into city. and i was listening to wotton fire that's opening this morning. claiming that the thirteen's and meant 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 word political us which means relating to the people to the citizens to the state and democracy is nothing if not political it is government of 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 law still exist. while button for the case against germany continued in washington a verdict was reached by the constitutional court in concert 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 gotten fired. so volleyball could no longer argue that it needed an international arbitrator to protect its interests because its claim to protection was recognized but. it 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 evolution 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 germans it simply shocking what vattenfall did here us must

confide to 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 this 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 there 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. the big business

button for example had the terms lithium she even appointed its former c.e.o. now as good a nurse of some as 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 uber new consideration 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. a kind of shadow play to entertain the public that's all i'm

talking about the countries traditionally discussed in the newspapers shop france germany australia japan brazil the us and so on. the rocks alongside this there is a 2nd entirely autonomy's 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 crew

group inc it's claiming to vs the republic of pollute as respondent and that is exceed 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 insane 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 to. 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 rule street credit analyst rankers lead smelter points in the small town of herculaneum in the state of missouri mining contamination by its 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 k. you'll up in the central highlands of peru down to the coast in lima 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 lead and then you see the vegetation begins to get out

. and much of the rock is coated with white gravy 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 la jolla 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 whipped to the side of the smelter the smokestack is. emitting tons of pollution but you see it's the passive contend with. what's leaking else the stoles of a smelter. there's no filter on that there's no chimney to get it up and out of the valley. emilia you know who you know you know who you were get

dark at noon because of the black smoke. just smell was terrible it engulf the whole town reset out here the smoke would drift toward us we'd feel it immediately it made our throat and head hurt so yeah larry. our eyes would start watering and we cough choked sometimes to the point where we couldn't even speak. and sometimes children were confined to their rooms and we 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 there was only put those you know. there was a sense that the proven government was not going to do anything to restrain the doe run 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 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 cleaning up its plant in peru i would run it used to for. 70 to evade taxes he funnel the money into 2 of his other mining companies in the u.s. state of missouri and on the cayman islands. meanwhile a royal has become so badly contaminated that it featured alongside chen noble and

around king 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 a lot of things that unfortunately the government of assume that it's all to make more attractive the facility for the private sector and it was the result of a very a responsible. company as reg an arbor a weak government that approved for many time to force full. obligation on research with mental quality a start the presbyterian church became more and more aware of the inner connections between. the us 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 in the stock and say notice he had 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 rent a subsidiary. a company by the peruvian archbishop petro beretta visited the town stablished an exchange between the affected communities in peru and the u.s. . our stock had organized a meeting she invited some environmental health specialists from st louis university struggle and 2 representatives from la jolla 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. it galvanized this sense of solidarity between folks from north america and folks from peru as they realized 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 my students often. ready you're agreeing with me. in 2005 scientists from missouri. to do a comparative study on the lead content in the blood of the respective populations of la toya and in the city of concepcion. 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 asked nick and mercury and. it was awful for us people. 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 a local community that connected with. non-profit organizations. who are connected with. folks. in. our movement 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. in the niagara the company doe run it did everything it could to silence workers and anyone else on the topic of pollution in la toya hears he'll more development often about their work or who it is not simply learning they're really

going to i mean there's you know. if you have a level of condemning those who did talk about it in any way they. were declared enemies of the company. and of law or royal 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. to you and i tell him. i didn't do this for my own personal gain or it's what you give you. i did it to change things . but to make a difference to people's health. so that they wouldn't continue to destroy our health and.

to. the blood analyses carried out by the u.s. researches so division and the local population. against the vampires from missouri who were sucking the blood of peruvian children. activists like rosa morrow received death threats as they worked to raise awareness of heavy metal poisoning. the rent a group meanwhile threatened to shut down the plant. to happening in. there i looked and there were a lot of mostly by the way of the facility and also because of the old thought that we would all yet to have the facility continue operating proving the government was continually assaulted by the threats of the door 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. or you're not. you know took an area with easy as you know that there was. this and then yeah. yeah. oh you mean mother i didn't know you in your way but i mean just a lot if you believe it was only very much. when i started.

going out of the 3 still going to your know your looks he's been. because they may respond as i look at a little you know it's a momentous time when he's on the scene you're low you're somebody in the same boat whose time it was 4 percent and it was going to one thing not used. last time was you know not i'm going to personally i can do something even 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 can't prove that these are the exact values of one's blood tests. as lead content in blood 35.34 arsenic 60.78. cadmium content in your own 2.67. there's 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 lawyer . 97 percent of the children had left the halls. some must highest $30.40 micrograms per deciliter which would be crucial children in such conditions in the us would 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. because he tell you this he this was that one needs intensive treatment. but i

don't have the money we have at that. level that he does feel that maybe i'm going to get to go on as they mean you'll simply do. basic it will say something it at least it will be i'm open one of these you know you've got elaine but it's hardly about almost once you bring into the enormous i mean valley's ok. good bloody good looking good in good will is good i think but it's a schoolgirl milly. for us you only get noise that we have all of us only so we're going to get a little bit of that basal eager look at them in getting more c.s.i. yeah it will be us and that's a good yes yeah he immediately is going to if you don't we got that you know we're going. in 2009 the peruvian government cited a run peru for environmental violations in the arroyo claiming financial problems franco shot 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 us invite mr hamilton to begin his or all submissions thank you. for so enough to release its own of course source of course it's one that. callie's us process yglesias. yours by the race mud the race going impress us you thought about how glorious. your economical as your. 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 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 it 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 of the grave threat to the people of iraq and the environment as a studies have shown. great concern again is there multiple exposure all these toxic metals affecting the body and to kill defects. so in the discussion of the economic and legal in other factors related to the relationship between the united

states government and peru it different work of the us trade free agreement i believe i believe we must put them 1st says we must make a priority of the health needs to rights of the people of the especially the children and especially the unborn we have children being born with lead in their bodies and that is something that we can see they're completely unacceptable like you know as ms america she would say. nicely akiko but i am not here as a political leader nor as a technical expert. i'm here as a citizen of law. and as a mother worried for her children. and hates was never happier that those who support run have thrown stones at my house and threatened me with death yet the government gave run several opportunities to end the pollution at the metal smelter

and. the company it never did anything and now it has the nerve to sue the peruvian state that a list that up at one. on the half of more than 1000 children from not a royal noise and some nurse filed a suit against iran at the missouri. in 2010 a cool day ordered renko to pay $65000000.00 to clean up pollution at its leg refinery and herculaneum. concerning the children of the iran it came to peruse and not record was liable for any personal injury claims. promptly 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 loud

roya from state court to federal court they'd written code 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 rent-a oh 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 sounds but sure wrinkle can again

wreak labor resealed the government so that is why we do need to walk with a lot of careful to avoid adult the risk of heavy rain. the provable or admit. 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 herculaneum and the us have received compensation the people of lower area are still waiting continued 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 wallonia region served as a wake up call for europe and the blocs institutions took 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 him and that's. with its judgement. europe's top court appeared to be asserting its sovereignty and power to legislate.

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 a tradition 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 state 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. the for. tomorrow's musicians to. the world's best supporting us on the streets making chili. dogs for 20 young classic festival. the

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positive devil local. storage june 17th t.w. . the state of the news live from berlin to mexico avoids potentially devastating u.s. tariffs with a last minute deal on migration president trump says planned levies on mexican goods are suspended indefinitely after mexico agreed to do more to stem the flow of migrants crossing its territory also coming up bad news for facebook google and

code g 20 finance ministers meeting in japan say they'll make it harder for big tech to avoid big tax have the details.