ISDS Case Map
El Salvador
El Salvador is defending itself against a US$301m lawsuit filed after it blocked a mining project to protect the country’s heavy-polluted water supply. The imminent verdict will set a precedent amid a growing trend of companies suing governments when they can’t exploit their natural resources.
Over 90 percent of El Salvador's surface water is contaminated with industrial chemicals, making it unsuitable to drink even if the water is boiled, chlorinated or filtered beforehand. A new action plan for passing a nationwide ban has begun to unfold, as Salvadorans await the outcome of the Pacific Rime ICSID case.
Luis Parada, a lawyer with the law firm Foley Hoag, is optimistic that the company, Pacific Rim, will not prevail in the proceedings.
Civil society organisations can play an important role in carrying and strengthening community voices in arbitration processes, by making submissions to arbitral tribunals.
The Central American country of El Salvador could be forced to pay US$301 million to Canadian-Australian mining multinational OceanaGold as the two face off in a World Bank investor-state tribunal with proven tendency to favor corporate interests over arguments for protecting national sovereignty, the environment, and human rights.
In anticipation of an imminent ruling from a little-known arbitration tribunal at the World Bank that could force El Salvador to pay Canadian-Australian mining firm OceanaGold US$301 million, a Salvadoran delegation is visiting Canada to discuss how investor-state arbitration threatens democratic decision-making, public health and the environment here and beyond our borders.
The International Trade Union Confederation calls on the government of El Salvador to denounce all treaties establishing ISDS proceedings.
The Central American state of El Salvador could be forced to pay US$301 million in damages to an Australian-Canadian mining company, OceanaGold, after the company’s application for a mining license was rejected on the basis of the projected environmental damage it would cause.
Rigoberto Monge, the economic advisor of the Salvadoran Industrial Association (ASI), reported that El Salvador and Canada are finalizing a free trade agreement.
Australian-based company OceanaGold is suing El Salvador for US$301 million for its “right” to continue operating a gold mine that is destroying the Central American nation's water supply.
