Is Africa Finally Confronting Its Challenges On Investment Treaty Arbitration?
Challenges are opportunities in disguise. Despite the global economic slowdown which has significantly affected developed economies, Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, has apparently shown good signs of economic expansion. According to the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook of September 2011, the region’s economy is expected to expand by up to 5¾ per cent in 2012 owing to its use of macroeconomic policies. This has in turn increased the volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. With the increase of FDI, it is inevitable that disputes will arise. It is therefore an opportune time for the region to return to its long-standing responsibilities for developi [...]
10 Investor-State Awards I Had Hoped to Read in 2010
Last year, around this time, I offered a list of 10 investor-state arbitral awards I hoped to see in 2010.
If time permits, I may do another list for 2011. But, first I thought I’d take a look back at last year’s list and offer a brief update on those cases. Rather, than do all of the heavy-lifting here, I’ll direct readers of this blog to relevant reporting in my Investment Arbitration Reporter newsletter (not to be confused with Kluwer’s ITA newsletter) where appropriate. (You won’t need a subscription to view the articles that are referenced below, as we’ll make them publicly available.)
Without further ado, here’s a run-down of the ten cases from last year.
Suez, Vivendi, Ang [...]
Zimbabwe’s Hitting the Arbitration Headlines
Following the controversial land reform programme first introduced by President Robert Mugabe in July 2000, Zimbabwe has found itself in hot water of late, with a number of international disputes being brought by dispossessed farmers against the State.
The first of these disputes was mounted at ICSID in 2005 by a group of 13 Dutch farmers who alleged that Zimbabwe, by depriving them of their agricultural landholdings and other property, had breached various provisions of the Netherlands-Zimbabwe bilateral investment treaty (BIT). In April 2009 an ICSID tribunal issued an award in Funnekotter et al. v Zimbabwe, finding that Zimbabwe had breached its obligations under Article 6 of the Netherla [...]
Land Reform and Investment Arbitration in Southern Africa
I spent some time in Namibia and South Africa last December looking into the impact of bilateral investment treaties on land reform.
I don’t do a lot of field trips, and my wife harboured some suspicion that this “research venture” was merely a tidy excuse to trade the New York winter for the Southern African summer.
These suspicions only grew when pictures surfaced of me on a four-wheeled all terrain vehicle in the Namibian desert – with nary a laptop or notebook in sight.
So, it’s with considerable relief that I see that my short paper (written with the South African lawyer Ross Garland) was published this week.
The paper is hardly the first word on the topic. Nor, I [...]
South Africa’s Puzzling New Treaty with Zimbabwe
When I last visited South Africa in 2006, there was much talk of a potential bilateral investment treaty between SA and Zimbabwe.
Three years later, as I make another visit to the region, the long-promised deal has just been sewn up.
But, despite much clamouring for a protective pact – particularly from South Africans with property in Zimbabwe – the recent signing of an SA-Zimbabwe BIT has left many stakeholders unhappy.
Elements of South African business boycotted the official signing ceremony, complaining that the deal ignores the plight of those South Africans who have (already) suffered expropriation in Zimbabwe.
Indeed, a conservative farming organization went so far as to petition a [...]
Land deals could sow arbitration disputes
In recent months, there have been a steady barrage of media reports about so-called “land grabs”.
Many believe that we are seeing a new “Scramble for Africa”, as food-scarce countries and private investors alike jostle to lease or purchase vast swathes of agricultural land abroad.
There are multiple drivers for such deals: including the perennial hope that land values will rise over time, as well as the inability of some Asian and Middle Eastern countries to grow enough food to feed their burgeoning populations.
Lately, the size and number of these land-deals are attracting concern in some quarters.
Earlier this month, I participated in a symposium on land investments at t [...]
