The investor–State dispute settlement mechanism established under most bilateral and multilateral investment agreements has proven to be a Trojan horse and mutated into a privatized system of dispute settlement, outside and contrary to article 14, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires that all suits at law be decided by independent tribunals which must respect the principles of transparency and accountability. Experience shows that many of the 608 arbitration awards that have become known, have overridden national law and hindered States in the sovereign determination of fiscal and budgetary policy, labour, health and environmental regulation, and have had adverse human rights impacts, also on third parties, including a “chilling effect” with regard to the exercise of democratic governance.