In November 2018, ECCHR together with its partner organizations ClientEarth and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) assisted several Romanian organizations with the filing of a petition to intervene as amici curiae. The amicus curiae brief was accepted by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). However, the arbitration tribunal refused to hear the witness statements of affected persons and rejected the legal arguments of the brief.
The submission – on behalf of Romanian organizations Alburnus Maior, Independent Center for the Development of Environmental Resources (ICDER) and Greenpeace Romania – explains the need to consider the rights of the local residents as well as the extraordinary cultural, archaeological and regional significance of the region in and around Roșia Montană.
In October 2022, the ICSID tribunal accepted a second amicus curiae brief in the ISDS case Gabriel Resources v. Romania. The brief, submitted by Greenpeace Romania and ICDER, contains the ruling of the Ploiești Court of Appeal in February 2022, which in a final judgment annulled the last archaeological discharge certificate for the proposed gold mine. The Court of Appeal in Ploiești concluded that the archaeological discharge certificate was issued illegally. This means that no construction or mining work should ever have been carried out in the area. This again shows the significant part that the investor's failures played in the failed mining project.
The Tribunal's decision to admit the amicus brief is welcoming. ECCHR will continue to support the Romanian organisations until the closure of the case, which is expected in 2023.