Multinational corporations (MNCs) investing abroad have been using Dutch bilateral investment treaties (BITs) to sue host country governments for over 100 billion dollars for alleged damages to the profitability of their investments...This is not only highly problematic from a sustainable development perspective for Southern countries, but increasingly also for Northern states...SOMO- researcher Roos van Os notes that the practice of treaty shopping increases the possibilities to take advantage of gaps in effective governance of multinational corporations...Researcher Roeline Knottnerus [says]: “Investment is seen by governments as a development tool. However, there is also growing recognition of the impacts that business activities, in particular those of powerful transnational investors, have on human rights and sustainable development..."