Protection of Human Rights
in International Investment Arbitration
Article describes significance of human rights norms in international investment
arbitration. Firstly, two theoretical issues are analyzed: nature of investor rights
in international investment law and methods of importing human rights norm to
investment arbitration. As regards the latter three methods were singled – systemic
interpretation, analogy and comparative argument. Importance of this part
flows from the fact that on the one side investment tribunals seems to consider
impossibility of taking into account human rights norm when adjudicating on
the basis of investment treaty, and on the other side occasional invocation of
human rights jurisprudence by these tribunal without any explanation whether
such invocation is legally possible. Secondly, different kind of using human rights
in investment arbitration are presented: as a sword when invoked by investor, as
a shield when invoked by a host state and as a double shield when invoked by
amicus curiae. In conclusion it is stated that there exist legal techniques of bringing
before investment arbitral tribunal human rights norm as an applicable law
nevertheless often they are not used appropriately by parties and in consequence
they are rarely taken into account in jurisprudence.