Non-Disputing Parties and Human Rights in Investor-State Arbitration: Bernhard von Pezold and Others v Republic of Zimbabwe, ICSID Case No ARB/10/15, Final Award, 28 July 2015

摘要

The vexed question of investor-state arbitration's sensitivity to the human rights interests of non-disputing parties raised its head again in the case of von Pezold v Zimbabwe, a case conjoined with Border Timbers v Zimbabwe,1 human rights - land reform - Zimbabwe - non-disputing party intervention -indigenous rights and concerning the escalation of Zimbabwe's Land Reform Programme, by which the property rights of white-owned estates were acquired, or otherwise rendered valueless, without compensation, in a reversal of past colonial land policies. On 28 July 2015, the Tribunal rendered its Award in favor of the von Pezold family (Claimants) on their claims of expropriation and breach of the fair and equitable treatment (FET) and the full protection and security (FPS) standards under the Germany-Zimbabwe2 and Switzerland-Zimbabwe3 bilateral investment treaties (BITs).