The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system has come under increasing criticism in recent years.
Almost exactly two years ago, on the morning of Apr. 24, over 3,600 workers – 80 percent of them young women between the ages of 18 and 20 – refused to enter the Rana Plaza garment factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh
, because there were large ominous cracks in the walls
. They were beaten with sticks and forced to enter.
Regional trade agreements have grown very rapidly in recent years, and today the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been notified that 253 are in force.