Non-State Actors and Human Rights Obligations

The interplay between human rights and international investment law and arbitration is a relatively recent field of enquiry, both on the academic and policy levels. But the role and responsibility of corporations in respecting human rights when they invest or operate other activities abroad has been on the international agenda since long. While the vast majority of international investment treaties do not mention human rights, States have since recently effectively included references to human rights norms in their treaties. Also, several recent cases have taken up human rights of foreign investors as part of a counterclaim raised by the host State of the foreign investment, thus showing an increased infiltration of human rights into investment law and arbitration. In this chapter, we discuss the position of foreign investors, as non-State actors, in international investment law and arbitration. We also address the question whether human rights law directly impose obligations on foreign investors as a matter of international law.