Iza Camarillo

Global Economic & Climate Justice  |  International Law  |  Advocacy

International lawyer advancing human rights, climate justice, and accountability in global economic governance.

  • Trade and Migration

    The Impacts of U.S. Trade Policy on Migration in Latin America

    June 2025

    U.S. corporate-driven trade policy has harmed Latin America for decades, contributing to mass-displacement. Once migrants cross the border, exploitation deepens.

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  • The Corporate Colonization of Latin America: How ISDS Harms Indigenous

    June 2024

    Told through a series of case studies across Latin America, this report highlights the plight of vulnerable communities.

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  • Consequences of U.S. Climate Financial Reg & Investment on the Global South

    October 2024

    Explore the global trade barriers, such as ISDS, FTAs, BITs, and WTO rules, to climate action in the Global South.

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  • Trade & Critical Minerals:The Deadly Cost of Cobalt Mining in the Congo

    October 2024

    The first of the Trade and Critical Minerals series, exposing the realities of cobalt mining in the DRC.

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  • IP Brief

    The Public Health Cost of Corporate-Driven Trade Rules

    July 2025

    Trade agreements should not determine who lives and who dies. Yet, the current global trade system embeds intellectual property (IP) protections in free trade agreements that do precisely that.

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I am an international trade and investment attorney, researcher, and advocate working at the intersection of economic justice, climate action, and human rights.

My work exposes and challenges the legal and policy frameworks that undermine environmental protection, extractive public finance, human rights, and sovereignty, especially in the Global South.

With a decade of experience spanning high-stakes sovereign litigation, structural policy reform, I use research, advocacy, and strategic legal engagement to reclaim trade as a tool that serves people and the planet.

Hi, I’m Iza

My Research

I approach each report with the goal of transforming complex and often technical trade issues into compelling narratives that drive advocacy and policy change.

In partnership with frontline communities and civil society organizations, my research focuses on:

  1. The legal architecture of extraction and the climate transition

  2. Trade, investment, and finance law reform for economic sovereignty

  3. Strategic legal interventions: ISDS amicus briefs, treaty mapping, and dual-track human rights litigation

  4. Bridging frontline voices with high-level legal and policy forums

  • Iza Camarillo is an international lawyer recognized for her expertise at the intersection of trade, investment, and human rights. She has advised governments and multinationals in treaty negotiations, cross-border disputes, and investor–state arbitration (ISDS), and now leads work linking climate justice, migration, and global economic governance.

    As Research Director at Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, she has directed research and advocacy initiatives influencing U.S. and international policy, briefed Congress and global institutions, and authored widely cited reports on critical mineral supply chains, Indigenous rights, and climate law. She collaborates with law school clinics to advance transnational accountability strategies.

    Her work integrates policy, advocacy, and strategic litigation to defend human rights, protect the environment, and challenge corporate power in global governance. She is developing initiatives with leading civil society and academic partners to expand legal protections for climate-displaced communities and migrant workers, ensuring that the most affected are at the center of the global transition.

  • Georgetown University Law Center              

    Duke University School of Law                             

    Universidad del Valle de Mexico                     

    University of Alaska

  • In 2019, Iza was selected as a Salzburg Cutler Fellow for her research on supply chain transparency and corporate responsibility in international trade. Her work analyzed supply chain transparency as a tool to expose human rights abuses and forced labor.

  • English

    Spanish

    French

    Italian

Other publications

  • US-Africa Policy Working Group Discusses Crisis in the Congo and Minerals Trade

    March 25, 2025

    On March 11, 2025, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Chair of the U.S.-Africa Policy Working Group, convened its inaugural meeting of the 119th Congress, bringing together members of Congress and leading experts to address the escalating human rights and humanitarian crises in the DRC. 

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  • The Worst of the Worst: Egregious Corporate Attacks on Public Interest Policies

    January 13, 2025

    Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) empowers multinational corporations to sue governments before panels of corporate lawyers. By elevating individual corporations to the same status as sovereign governments, ISDS drastically consolidates and formalizes corporate power.

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  • Corporate Colonization Through Trade: A New Scramble for Africa

    March 3, 2025

    Since 1993, African governments have been the target of 171 ISDS claims, overwhelmingly from investors headquartered in the Global North. In total, African states have been ordered to pay over $5.7 billion to corporations, with an additional $19.5 billion still at stake in ongoing cases.

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  • A Progressive Explainer on Tariffs

    December 12, 2024

    International trade is not inherently good or bad — it is a means to achieve an end. Ideally, if the rules are designed appropriately, that end is a prosperous society where people work with dignity and enjoy a healthy environment. In the same way, tariffs are not inherently good or bad. They are a tool that can be used to achieve various objectives.

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  • Selected Statements and Actions Against Investor-State Dispute Settlement

    August 20, 2024

    A broad selection of quotes from high-level U.S. and international officials, international organizations, businesses, and others highlighting the damages wrought by ISDS and the global movement opposed to the anti-democratic provisions.

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  • Trump's Tariffs Are Extremely Dumb, Just Not For The Reasons You Might Think

    April 4, 2025

    On April 2, Trump declared a national emergency and announced sweeping tariffs on nearly all imported goods. The headlines were dramatic — tariffs on China, allies like Canada and Mexico, and everything from cars to coffee beans. His administration framed the move as a patriotic stance for “reciprocal trade” and economic sovereignty.

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Contact Me

Let’s connect.
Whether you’re looking for a speaker, collaborator, or expert insight on global trade and investment policy, I welcome the opportunity to engage.

Please reach out using the form .
You may also connect with me on LinkedIn for updates on new research, panels, and publications.