Bridging the Gap between Foreign Investor Rights and Obligations : Towards Re-imagining the International Law on Foreign Investment

In this article I propose to see the history of the international law on foreign investment as about the diffusion of investor rights as much as the resistance to investor obligations. My argument is that the divide between investment protection and the responsibility of foreign investors is one of the most significant features of the international law on foreign investment. The article shows that the different treatment of rights and obligations is grounded on the same business project and legal imagination. Maintaining this divide has never been easy, as this model faced resistance, particularly from Latin America, trade unions and human rights activists. The article concludes by noting that while mainly states can create international investor obligations, academics can contribute to reimagining the international law on foreign investment by bringing investment treaty law and business and human rights much closer. This shift is already happening