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For 50 years Shell has avoided paying the damages it owes the victims of an oil spill in Nigeria

28 June 2021 | In 1970 Shell caused a huge oil spill in Nigeria. After finally being sentenced to pay damages to the affected community by the highest Nigerian court, Shell is now starting investor-state arbitration proceedings, to drag out the case even more, writes Juan Carlos Boué.

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Alexandre Mas: A famous economist is caught in a kafkaesque tribunal with no accusations and no due process (Updated)

16 June 2021 |The Spanish government is pursuing eminent economist Andreu Mas-Colell with unspecified accusations of misappropriation of public funds with regards to the Catalan referentum of 2017, even though he had been retired for years at that time, writes Princeton professor Alexandre Mas, his son, in this guest comment.

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Juan Carlos Boué: Investor tribunals make reversal of pension privatizations expensive

13 April 2021 | Many poor countries were pushed to privatize their pension systems to the benefit of international pension funds and insurance companies. After reversing this costly failure, they are sued by financial companies who want their expected profits guaranteed.

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Vattenfall vs. Germany: A Disgraceful Settlement of a Scandalous Claim

16 March 2021 | On March 5, 2021, it was announced that the Germany had reached an agreement with the Swedish state company Vattenfall to settle a claim valued at up to €7 billion, over the phase-out of nuclear energy in the wake of Fukushima. The government pay Vattenfall €1.4 billion, much too much, argues Juan Carlos Boué in this guest comment.

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Juan Carlos Boué: The World Bank Sausage Factory

13 December 2020 | Investor State Dispute Settlement, those special tribunals which foreign investors can use to sue a host government for alleged infringement on their rights, have drawn criticism for being one sided. Investors can sue governments, but not vice versa. Arbitration counsel Juan Carlos Boue describes a case, which takes this to the extreme. An investor drags a government in front of a tribunal because the government is suing the investor at regular courts.

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Juan Carlos Boué: How a World Bank tribunal is plundering Pakistan

20 November 2020 | The special tribunals which allow potential or actual foreign investors to sue governments for infringements on their rights outside the regular courts are often the most criticized component of free trade agreements. Juan Carlos Boué gives an example in this guest comment, which makes it clear why this is so.

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Carbon Cleanup: The Public is Paying, But Who is Profiting?

August 21, 2020 | In this guest article, June Sekera dissects the false promises of industrial-chemical methods of carbon capture. June is a Visiting Scholar at the Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies, New School for Social Research, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London.

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