Global Justice Academy Human Rights Day Book Launch - Luis Yanes

The Global Justice Academy warmly invites you to celebrate Human Rights Day with the launch of “Social Rights in International Investment Law,” a new book by Dr Luis F. Yanes.

The event will be chaired by Professor Kasey McCall-Smith, Director of the Global Justice Academy. We will also be joined by Professor Katie Boyle, Chair of Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Strathclyde, and by Dr Ana Maria Daza Vargas, Senior Lecturer in International Law at the University of Edinburgh. Both will offer their reflections as discussants. Dr Yanes will share remarks on the book, followed by an open Q&A session.

A drinks reception will follow the discussion, and all attendees are warmly welcome to stay and continue the conversation.

The book examines the complex relationship between international investment law and international human rights law, focusing on the privatisation of social rights services such as water, health, education, and housing.

Unlike other sectors, social rights services are subject to very specific human rights obligations under international law. Investment tribunals, however, have often overlooked these obligations. Through detailed analysis, the book demonstrates how investment law has been applied or interpreted in ways that hinder governments from adapting or improving social rights services, ultimately resulting in human rights violations. Nonetheless, the book proves that, within the existing scope of investment law, investment protections can be interpreted in a way that are compatible with human rights norms. Demonstrating how these two fields can be systemically integrated, the book provides a detailed method that can be used by investment tribunals to harmoniously interpret investment and human rights law.

The book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of investment law, international law, and human rights law.

Luis Felipe Yanes is an international human rights lawyer, who is currently the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s chief expert on economic, social and cultural rights. For almost two decades, he has worked across Europe, Africa, and the Americas, including as: a Human Rights Specialist at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; a Research Fellow at the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights; an Associate Lecturer at the University of Essex and the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello; a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pretoria; a Legal Officer at the Program of Action in Education in Human Rights. Luis is currently a Guest Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

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