Case Study: Glamis Gold Ltd. (Claimant) v United States of America (Respondent), NAFTA/UNCITRAL Award, 8 June 2009

The Glamis Gold award (2009) is one of the recent investment awards touching upon indigenous rights and has been termed a symbolic example of the clash between investors’ rights and cultural heritage protection. Among the variety of conflicts which can arise in this regard, the award is particularly concerned with the question how regulatory measures aimed at the protection of cultural indigenous sites can be classified from an investor-perspective, and whether such measures amount to a breach of standards of treatment enshrined in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The case study - drafted for the 2016 ILA Committee meeting - looks at how the interests of indigenous peoples were handled by the investment tribunal and how investment arbitration can contribute to the protection of indigenous rights.