Protection of Foreign Investments in Armed Conflict. Part 1

The article discusses the notion of protection of foreign investments within the context of armed conflict. The author examines the provisions of bilateral investment treaties aimed at protecting investors in the situations of violence, as well as the substantive standards rooted in investment protection. The author also refers to the historical context behind the advent of the first investment treaties and the colonial nature that characterises the emergence of international investment law. The analysis focuses on the challenges commonly indicative of the applicability of investment agreements in armed conflict, which is further complicated by theweakness of the current international legal regulation and the insufficiency of existing provisions. The author argues that theregulatory framework for the protection of foreign investments is not only imperfect for regulating the protection of investments in the event of armed conflict but is also overly cautious with regard to the application of the principles of international humanitarian law to investment disputes. The author considers that the concept of investment protection should be reconciled with the concept of human rights, as well as with the interests of developing countries, since although investment is usually associated with economic stability, this discourse is inapplicable to developing countries, which are often negatively affected by both foreign investment itself and its protection, as the example of Colombia shows. Therefore, the article dwells on the fact that the effectiveness of protecting foreign investment, which is always based on the premise of peace, should be viewed through the prism of three lenses: the law of international treaties, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law. It is precisely on these three levels the author shows the interaction between the economic aims of investors who wish to safeguard their investments, the goals of governmental agencies, and the rights and interests of local communities and indigenous peoples.