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The investor-state dispute settlement puts companies' rights ahead of human rights. Its effects are devastating for developing nations - we must abolish it

When the architects of the international order that took shape after the second world war created the United Nations, they gave the organisation a lofty goal: "Save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." Through the UN charter - akin to a world constitution - solemnly adopted in 1945 in San Francisco, they also said they were "determined to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained".

Since then and in line with that vow, the UN has put on the world stage not only the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also legally binding instruments, including 10 core human rights conventions and countless declarations and resolutions.

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The ISDS cannot be reformed. It must be abolished