More than 800 Organizations call on the World Bank to Respect Bolivia's Withdrawal from its Arbitration Tribunal

BARCELONA, 15 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) -
original article: http://tinyurl.com/2k37pq

More than 800 grassroots organisations from 59 countries will today ask World Bank President, Robert B. Zoellick, to respect the decision of the Government of Bolivia to withdraw from the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), whose Administrative Council is headed by Zoellick himself.

In May of last year, the Government of Bolivia became the first country in the world to withdraw from the ICSID after denouncing the history of this court of arbitration, stating that it acts in favour of narrow corporate interests and against the public good.

The ICSID is now refusing to abide by the actions of the Government of Bolivia and is allowing a case by a large European telecommunications company to proceed. The global petition reflects the growing concern over a system of investors' rights that undermines democracy and human rights.

Many of the organizations that signed the petition were already aware of these problems due to the notorious case of 'Bechtel vs. Bolivia'. In 2001, a subsidiary of Bechtel filed a lawsuit against the poorest country in South America following a failed proposed privatization of water services. After five years of intense public pressure, the company withdrew the case.

As stated in the petition, Bolivia is just one of several governments that are defying the excessive protection of investors in free trade and bilateral investment treaties.

While Bolivia followed all the legal procedures to withdraw from the ICSID, the court nonetheless planned to form a tribunal to hear the case against Bolivia raised by Euro Telecom International (TSI), a company incorporated in the Netherlands but whose real owners are Telecom Italia and Telefonica Spain.

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The petition and list of signing organizations is available in different languages through the following links:

English: http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/080115-boliviapetition-en.pdf
Castellano: http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/080115-boliviapetition-es.pdf