The World Economic Forum (WEF), currently taking place in Davos, is the premiere sales-pitch for private-sector solutions. CEOs will spend the week rubbing shoulders with politicians and promoting their vision of the world, tucked away in the secrecy of the Swiss Alps.

While media coverage is focused on the international debut of right-wing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, or resistance within Davos to proposals for higher income tax rates for the super-rich, another story of this Forum has gone under the radar. And today we’re trying to change that.

Many of the corporations involved in the WEF have consistently used Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) – a set of rules within trade and investment treaties – to sue our governments, undermine progressive policy, win huge payouts from the public purse and prevent the urgent change we need to address the world’s problems. Alarmingly the European Union is using this year’s Davos meeting to sell its idea for making this easier.

ISDS become prominent in the UK during recent debates over the TTIP and CETA trade deals. Corporations suing democratic states for interfering with their profit margins might sound dystopian, but it’s an increasingly common means of doing business of the international stage.

An analysis by my union, Public Services International, reveals that over forty WEF Industry Partners have used ISDS provisions to sue states for policies or decisions they don’t like. Among the most egregious examples include ISDS cases brought against environmental protections, public health measures and attempts to make electricity more affordable. 

In 2005, WEF-regular Cargill sued Mexico for implementing a tax on high-fructose corn syrup to address the country’s obesity crisis. In 2008, Dow Chemical sued Canada after the province of Quebec banned a harmful pesticide. Pharma-giant Novartis recently threatened to use ISDS to successfully discourage the Colombian government from making a life-saving leukaemia drug more accessible.

Of course, multinationals haven’t been able to implement ISDS on their own. Our public leaders have drunk the corporate cool-aid – often convinced by false claims that ISDS is the best way to secure Foreign Direct Investment. 

In 2014, Britain’s Trade Union Congress wrote a takedown of ISDS for this reason, feeling that criticisms of ISDS were not being taken seriously enough by political leaders in the UK and across Europe.

The submission concluded that “inequality lies at the very foundation of ISDS as it privileges foreign investors over any other economic actors – domestic investors or interest groups such as consumers or workers – by giving them the right to access special courts for pursuing claims of expropriation.”

“ISDS cases allow investors to overrule democracy by overturning legislation,” it continued, adding that “states that have been sued through ISDS have dramatically less resources to invest in public services and public policy objectives,” and “when ISDS is present in trade deals, governments have scrapped potential policies that they fear will trigger an ISDS claim.” This it described as a “chilling effect on policy making.”

Fortunately, thanks to great work by campaigners, the public is catching on to ISDS. A recent EU Commission consultation resulted in 97% of respondents rejecting ISDS. Even EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Maelstrom has admitted that “ISDS is now the most toxic acronym in Europe.”

But at a time when even the United States is backing away from these flawed provisions, the EU Commission is continuing to rebrand and promote them. The EU has been cashing in on its “Social Europe” image to promote a new model of ISDS it calls Multilateral Investment Court (MIC). They’ve updated the acronym, they’ve made superficial changes without addressing the underlying issues – they’ve even claimed that ISDS is a boon for small businesses. 

Yet over 90% of ISDS awards go to companies with at least US$ 1 billion in annual revenue or to individuals with over US$100 million in net wealth. ISDS isn’t made for shop-owners, or workers. It’s made for the Davos Class.

This is why the Stop ISDS Coalition, an alliance of over a hundred organisations, has chosen the WEF to launch a new campaign. The coalition includes over 100 NGOs, Social Movements and Trade Unions including Public Services International, Greenpeace, Action Aid, united to challenge corporate power. 

We believe that the fact that corporate rights are enforceable at the international level  through ISDS – yet there is no similar way for us to hold corporations to account for their crimes – is simply absurd. In the first day of our petition, we’ve already collected over 100,000 signatures. We are aiming to gather over a million signatures to make clear to our leaders that ISDS isn’t just toxic – it’s politically untenable. 

We’re calling on European leaders to end their dogmatic promotion of ISDS and instead support a binding United Nations Treaty on Transnational Corporations so we can hold big-business to account. Today campaigners, dressed as Corporate ISDS Wolves invaded the streets of Davos to highlight the real face of private-sector influence.

Nothing epitomises the coziness between politicians and corporations quite like the WEF. And nothing shows the disastrous policy outcomes which flow from this relationship quite like ISDS. For the future of democracy and our public services, it’s vital we fight it now.