Partecipanti:

Elena Calandri

Alessandra Pietrobon

Andrea Gattini

Christian Tms

Wei Yingqi

Hodu Ngangjoh

Eric De Brabandere

Youseph Farah

Kent Avidan

Elvis Mbembe

Leon Kassabo

Abstract:

The project will study the pivotal role foreign investment may play in countries affected by conflict, fragility or violence (CACFVs). It will (a) examine the main political, legal and economic obstacles to a more prominent role of foreign investment in CACFV; (c) consider the safeguard of the interests of the different stakeholders; (d) critically analyse the creation of a stable and predictable legal framework that optimises the impact of foreign investment without sacrificing non-investment interests.

Obiettivi:

The overall ambition of the research project is to shift the focus of scholarship on the process of stabilisation, reconstruction and sustainable development of on countries affected by conflict, fragility or violence (CACFVs) from the traditional essentially intergovernmental perspective to a more holistic one, which fully recognises the role of the private sector and foreign investment in particular.

From this perspective, the research proposal has four main objectives:

(a) Providing a concise but rigorous overview of the current legal instruments and policies concerning the promotion and protection of foreign investment in CACFVs;

(b) Assessing to what extent those instruments and policies adequately address the special needs of CACFVs, paying special attention at the key sectors for their process of stabilisation, reconstruction and sustainable development, namely infrastructures, natural resources, telecommunications;

(c) Identifying the main gaps and inadequacy of those instruments and policies, taking in due account their evolution in State practice both at the international level (i.e. new Model BITs recently adopted by developing countries and emerging economies) and the domestic level (i.e. the recent legislation adopted by South Africa on foreign investment or by Tanzania in the natural sector resources);

(d) Examining how those instruments and policies could be amended and reconsidered with a view of enhancing their impact on the process of stabilisation, reconstruction and sustainable development of CACFVs.

Piano delle attività:

The project is expected to provide a concise yet systematic study of the main legal issues concerning the
promotion and protection of foreign investments in CACFVs. It has three main objectives:
(a) an overview of the current legal framework, with special attention to investment treaties,
legislation and contracts, as well as its recent evolution;
(b) a critical analysis of the legal instruments promoting and protecting those investments aimed at
identifying the main shortcomings and gaps (also in comparative terms, i.e. recent legal
instruments concluded or adopted by leading actors (i.e. EU and India) and developing countries
(such as Nigeria and Morocco);
(c) a preliminary reflection on how those instruments could be reconsidered and amended in order to
optimise the impact of those investments and to strike a better line between public and private
interests.
The project will also start building a database of the legal instruments specific to CACFVs by using UNCTAD
Investment hub as well as the official websites of international organisations and governments.

Contatti:

tarcisio.gazzini@unipd.it

Risultati:

The provisional findings of the research will be made available to the public in the form of a working paper
and possibly a blog in EJILTalk!, Opinio Juris, or Völkerrechtsblog.
The final outcome of the research will be an article (about 10,000 words) to be submitted for publication to
a specialized peer-review journal (i.e. Journal of World Investment & Trade, Journal of Development Studies,
Journal of Development Economics, Journal of International Economic Law). The article may be included in a
Symposium with the results of the second workshop.