The EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence & Human Rights
12 June 2025
Hosted by the Business, Trade and Human Rights unit at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), this seminar examined the broader implications of the EU Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence on business respect for human rights.
The adoption of the EU directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD) was a key milestone in the business and human rights space. The directive provides for corporate human rights and environmental due diligence and the adoption of a transition plan for climate change mitigation. Since its adoption in 2024, the discourse surrounding the directive has been primarily focused on its key elements and the transposition of the directive into the national laws of EU member states. As member states and the business community gear towards the next (implementation) phase of the directive, its potential implications in terms of human rights merit further discussion.
The seminar was chaired by Sek Lun Cheong, Assistant Professor in Business & Human Rights and Investment Law at the University of Nottingham and head of the Business, Trade and Human Rights unit.
You can watch a recording of the event here:
About the Speakers
Surya Deva
Professor Surya Deva is a Professor at the Macquarie Law School and Director of the Centre for Environmental Law and B&HR Access to Justice Lab at Macquarie University. He is also the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development. He researches in the areas of business and human rights, India-China constitutional law, international human rights law, and sustainable development. Deva has published extensively in these areas, and has advised UN agencies, governments, multinational corporations, and civil society organisations on issues related to business and human rights. Prior to joining Macquarie, he taught at City University of Hong Kong, the University of Delhi and the National Law Institute University Bhopal. Mr Deva holds BA (Hons) Political Science, LLB and LLM from the University of Delhi and a PhD from the University of Sydney. He is one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal, and sits on the Editorial/Advisory Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, the Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law, the Indian Law Review, and the Australian Journal of Human Rights. Deva is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law (2014-18; 2018-22).
Robert McCorquodale
Robert McCorquodale is a member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, a five-member group of independent experts, where his nationality is Australian. He is also Emeritus Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the University of Nottingham, UK, and is a former barrister and mediator at Brick Court Chambers, London. Robert has 30 years of experience working in business and human rights. He published widely in this area, including by empirical research, and his most recent book is Business and Human Rights (OUP, 2024). He has advised business of all sizes and assisted governments around the world, and has been involved with civil society, industry sectors and other organisations in drafting legal changes and in litigation. His work has included capacity building, legislative proposals and training, as well as interviewing and qualitative research. He has appeared before the International Court of Justice, the United Kingdom Supreme Court and the Australian High Court.
Miriam Saage-Maaß
Dr Miriam Saage-Maaß is a qualified lawyer and Legal Director at European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), where she had built up the Business and Human Rights Program. She has worked on various cases against corporations relating to exploitation of workers in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Furthermore, she is engaged in criminal proceedings against high-ranking managers for their involvement in international crimes, e.g. arms exports from Europe to Saudi Arabia.Miriam regularly publishes articles on the subject of legal liability of corporations regarding human rights violations in the global supply chain, and is internationally consulted as an expert on the topic of corporate responsibility and human rights.
Anil Yilmaz
Dr Anil Yilmaz is a Senior Lecturer at Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre. She is also an Honorary Associate Professor at Warwick Law School based at the GLOBE Centre, a visiting fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law and a non-practising lawyer at the Istanbul Bar Association.She teaches and researches in the area of business, investment and human rights. Her research brings together strands of corporate law, international investment law, human rights law, labour law and tort law examining how these areas can and should interact so as to operationalise human rights standards in the modern business context. She has published works on corporate nationality in investment law, parent-subsidiary relationships in the business and human rights context, human rights reporting and due diligence, duty of care in supply chain relationships, human rights in investment contracts and the embedded inequalities in the