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The submission argues that USAID lacks clear operational procedures for human rights due diligence and access to remedy. It recommends the adoption of a comprehensive human rights-based approach to development, the implementation of social impact assessments, and the creation of independent non-judicial grievance mechanisms to address abuses caused by USAID, its partners, and its contractors.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE), represented by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), filed an internal appeal to the Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on July 21, 2015. The appeal challenges the DMR's partial refusal to grant access to records regarding the Yzermyn underground coal mine project in Mpumalanga, which the FSE requested under the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA).

The report argues that the discharge of antibiotic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into the environment during production, primarily in China and India, accelerates the development of superbugs. It highlights a lack of transparency in pharmaceutical supply chains, linking major global companies like Pfizer, Teva, and McKesson to polluting factories. The document calls for the integration of environmental protection criteria into Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and greater corporate transparency to mitigate this global health threat.

The document examines how La Mesa, a Salvadoran coalition, used amicus curiae submissions in the Pac Rim arbitration to bring community concerns regarding metals mining and sustainable development to an international tribunal. It highlights the importance of alliance building between local groups and international legal experts to navigate technical arbitration processes and argues that such interventions provide essential public interest context that disputing parties may omit.

The Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity argues for a legally binding UN treaty to end the impunity of transnational corporations (TNCs). The submission proposes that TNCs be held civilly and criminally liable for human rights and environmental violations, including through shared liability for subsidiaries and subcontractors. It calls for the recognition of the hierarchical superiority of human rights over trade and investment treaties, the codification of states' extra-territorial obligations, and the creation of international enforcement bodies, including a World Court on TNCs and Human Rights. The document also highlights the role of international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank in facilitating corporate impunity through structural adjustment policies.

This collection of reports and interviews analyzes contemporary European resistance movements, focusing on struggles against extractive industries, infrastructure mega-projects, and economic austerity. It highlights specific cases in Romania, Greece, Scotland, France, and Turkey, while discussing the systemic role of the educated middle class in mobilization. The text argues that Green parties must reconnect with their radical roots and form transversal alliances with social movements to challenge the dominant neoliberal economic model and the 'sacredness of growth'.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) supports the Senate Democrats' decision to block the Fast Track trade negotiating authority bill, asserting that such authority would allow trade deals like TTIP and TPP to bypass democratic oversight and potentially weaken laws regarding toxic chemicals.

The document examines the evolution of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in China, highlighting 2014 as a pivotal year due to a surge in official guidelines and a strategic shift toward market-led resource allocation. It identifies high local government debt and massive infrastructure needs for urbanization as primary drivers. However, it notes significant barriers, including political and regulatory uncertainties, poor risk allocation, and a lack of 'value for money' (VFM) evaluations. The paper recommends shifting the focus from PPPs as mere funding sources to tools for efficiency and innovation, advocating for performance-based specifications and life-cycle asset management to ensure sustainable development.

The document criticizes the cosmetics industry's efforts to gain more direct influence in TTIP negotiations, warning that the agreement seeks the 'lowest common denominator' in safety standards rather than elevating protections. It highlights the disparity between EU and US chemical bans and argues that the secrecy of the negotiations excludes civil society while allowing industry to draft text that could undermine public health and environmental laws.

The briefing examines the rapid rise of Podemos in Spain, analyzing its positions on corruption, inequality, democracy, and European policy, while highlighting its influence on traditional left-wing parties and the strategic challenge it poses to ecological parties in Southern Europe.

The authors call for a comprehensive overhaul of the UK's constitutional and democratic framework to address a 'crisis of democracy' characterized by voter disillusionment and inadequate representation. Proposed reforms include the adoption of proportional representation for both houses of parliament and local elections, the creation of a written constitution with a citizens bill of rights, and the establishment of directly-elected regional assemblies. The text emphasizes the need to protect local governments from corporate influence and opposes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the grounds that it would undermine local democratic decision-making and public services.

The document examines performance requirements (PR)—stipulations imposed on investors to achieve specific development goals—and the legal constraints placed upon them by the WTO's TRIMs Agreement and various Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). It highlights a growing trend, led by Canada and the United States, toward broader prohibitions of PRs (MIC+ clauses) that extend to pre-establishment phases. Through the analysis of cases like Lemire v. Ukraine and Mobil Oil v. Canada, the guide illustrates the unpredictability of investment tribunals in interpreting these prohibitions. It concludes by offering strategic options for developing nations to maintain their regulatory space, such as avoiding PR prohibitions in BITs or explicitly excluding certain sectors and mechanisms from such restrictions.

The author contends that the TTIP and CETA trade agreements allow corporations to bypass national courts and sue EU governments in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) via the ISDS clause. The text highlights 2014 updates to LCIA rules that allegedly make it easier for corporations to sue taxpayers, limit the ability of governments to challenge arbitrator impartiality, and allow for corporate class action suits. The author warns that these mechanisms could be used to block environmental protections, such as bans on fracking, or prevent the reversal of public service privatisations, effectively placing corporate interests above democratic law.

The policy brief analyzes a leaked 'chemicals annex' of the TTIP, asserting that the proposed regulatory cooperation framework would allow the chemical industry to delay the implementation of health-protective laws. It highlights a stark divide between the EU's proactive chemical regulations and the US's outdated legislation, warning that TTIP could erase these protections through harmonization and mutual recognition. The document outlines six primary concerns shared by over 110 civil society organizations, including the potential to block sub-federal regulatory action in US states and EU Member States, limit public access to toxic chemical information, and derail EU leadership on emerging issues like endocrine disruptors and nanomaterials.

The document provides legal commentary on the dispute between Pac Rim Cayman LLC and the Republic of El Salvador, asserting that the state's regulatory framework for mining is a necessary tool to prevent human rights infringements and environmental damage. It emphasizes that the 'public interest' must be defined through environmental democracy and access rights, as outlined in Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration. The brief further details the social conflict and violence, including murders of environmental defenders, resulting from Pac Rim's activities in the Cabañas department.

A statement from a coalition of EU, U.S., and international organizations expressing strong opposition to the inclusion of chemical regulations within the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The authors argue that TTIP proposals would prioritize chemical industry interests over public health and the environment by freezing protective regulations, limiting public access to hazard information, and empowering corporations to challenge domestic laws through investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms.

The document analyzes how comprehensive 'WTO-plus' agreements like the TPP and TTIP influence South Africa's regional trade goals. It argues that while direct GDP impacts may be modest, these agreements create risks of preference erosion—particularly in clothing and textiles—and set new global benchmarks for regulatory coherence, intellectual property, and investment that South Africa and TFTA members must adapt to avoid isolation.

The statement supports the Independent Expert's mapping report on human rights obligations regarding environmental protection and advocates for the formal recognition of a freestanding right to a healthy environment to improve accountability and ecosystem preservation. It emphasizes the importance of extraterritorial obligations (ETOs) and the protection of environmental rights defenders.

The document serves as a manual for NGOs to navigate the process of filing amicus curiae submissions in ICSID proceedings. It explains the legal nature of international investment arbitration, the specific rules (such as Rule 37(2)) governing non-disputing party participation, and the challenges of integrating human rights law into investment disputes. It provides best practices for drafting petitions and submissions, emphasizing the need for legal arguments grounded in applicable law and the importance of demonstrating the petitioner's independence and expertise. The guide also includes several case studies and actual petitions and orders from cases such as Biwater Gauff v. Tanzania and Suez v. Argentina to illustrate the practical application of these rules.

The document explains the role of amicus curiae in ICSID proceedings, detailing the legal requirements under Rule 37(2) for non-disputing parties to file written submissions. It highlights the tension between investment protection and human rights, arguing that amicus interventions are critical for introducing public interest perspectives into a system that often prioritizes investor rights. The guide provides best practices for drafting petitions and submissions, emphasizing the need for legal grounding and the demonstration of the petitioner's independence and expertise.