December 1, 2006
On November 27, 2006, three Tanzanian-based civil society organizations and two international ones have joined forces to request status as amicus curiae to an International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Tribunal hearing a case brought by Biwater PLC, a UK-based water company, against the Government of Tanzania. The five organizations are the Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (LEAT), Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
This investment dispute before an ICSID Tribunal is at the heart of the controversy between the Tanzanian Government and a foreign investor concerning the provision of water services in Dar es Salaam from 2003 until 2005. The Tanzanian government announced in May 2005 that it had terminated its contract with City Water because the company had failed in its promise to provide clean drinking water to millions of people in Dar es Salaam. As in previous arbitration proceedings brought by companies supplying public services, Biwater PLC, the UK-based partner in City Water, is apparently demanding substantial compensation for the alleged impact on its business. The company is using its rights as a foreign investor under the UK-Tanzania Bilateral Investment Treaty to initiate this multi-million US dollar arbitration against Tanzania.
Under ICSID’s newly amended Arbitration Rules, in force since April of this year, citizen groups are allowed to make an application for standing as “amicus curiae” or friends of the court. The five civil society organizations are using these newly amended Arbitration rules for the first time by submitting a request for participation. It will be important to see how the Tribunal responds to this request.
Although this arbitration concerns the provision of essential public services in Dar es Salaam, the public and the press have not had access to the documents presented in the arbitration. The reason for the lack of transparency is that on September 29, 2006, the ICSID Tribunal had issued a broad confidentiality order, at the request of Biwater PLC, banning the parties from releasing their legal arguments and other information in the case to the public. In their request for amicus curiae status, the five civil society organizations also requested access to the oral hearings and to the documents produced in the arbitration, in order produce more useful and accurate input as friends of the court.
The Biwater-Tanzania case is very important to the citizens of Tanzania and beyond because it involves the human right to water, possible gender-related issues, the sound management of water resources, and the responsibilities of investors as well as governments in regards to such privatizations. The five civil society organizations have come together in order to ensure that these issues of genuine concern to the public in Tanzania and internationally related to this arbitration are heard by the Tribunal.
Contacts:
Lawyers Environmental Action Team (LEAT)
Rugemeleza Nshala
Email: rugemeleza.nshala@yale.edu
OR
Tundu Lissu
Tel: +255-22-2780859/2781098
Email: tundulissu@leattz.org
Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC)
Helen Kijo-Bisimba
Phone numbers: +255-22 2773038, 277 3048
Email: lhrc@humanrights.or.tz
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP)
Mary Janeth Rusimbi
Tel: +255-22-2443205, 2443450, 2443286
deus.kibamba@tgnp.org
Center For International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Marcos Orellana
Tel: +1-202-785-8700
Email: morellana@ciel.org
International Institute for Sustainable (IISD)
Howard Mann
Tel: +1-613-729-0621
Email: h.mann@sympatico.ca