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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.iatp.org/documents/new-report-shows-trade-tribunals-are-threatening-right-water">https://www.iatp.org/documents/new-report-shows-trade-tribunals-are-threatening-right-water</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">12/11/2017<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Contact:
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Josh Wise, 952-818-5474,
</span><a href="mailto:jwise@iatp.org"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;background:white">jwise@iatp.org</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">, Shiney Varghese, 612-722-5373,
</span><a href="mailto:svarghese@iatp.org"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;background:white">svarghese@iatp.org</span></a><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color:black"><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">NEW REPORT SHOWS THAT TRADE TRIBUNALS ARE THREATENING THE RIGHT TO WATER<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">MINNEAPOLIS – A new report released by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) finds that the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process, included in NAFTA
and other trade and investment agreements, is threatening the right to water around the world, as well as contradicting the public health, food security, and other development goals laid out by the United Nations under the
<a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/"><b>2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
</b></a> <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ISDS gives foreign investors the right to demand compensation for environmental, public interest, and other laws that undermine their anticipated profits. Cases are decided by unaccountable panels of trade lawyers who might have conflicts
of interest. This provision, initially put in place to ensure investors’ rights are protected against nationalizations or expropriations, has evolved to become a tool for corporations to tie up governments in long and expensive legal cases, with chilling effects
on public interest rules around the world. <o:p></o:p></p>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">The report finds that, in ISDS cases as far ranging as water privatization in Argentina, to the recent NAFTA ISDS suit filed by TransCanada over its Keystone XL pipeline, countries
have paid over $100 million to corporations for the loss of “future expected profits.”
<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">“The settlement amounts don’t even include the legal fees that countries must pay defending themselves over several years,” says Shiney Varghese, the author of the report. “ISDS
has no place while the world is trying to achieve sustainable development goals around food and nutrition security, health, and water security.”<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1 style="mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">The report concludes that future trade agreements, including the renegotiation of NAFTA, should eliminate the ISDS process and put the protection of water and other public goods
above the profits of multinational investors. <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/2017-12/2017_12_11_ISDSWaterRights_SV_f.pdf">Read the full report here.</a>
<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif">###<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center"><i><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif;background:white">Based in Minneapolis with offices in Washington, D.C. and Berlin, Germany, the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy connects the dots of global justice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.</span></i><span style="font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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