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A Human Rights Approach to Due Diligence: Reflections on key principles
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- Executive summary
- Introduction
- 1. Why is mandatory human rights due diligence needed?
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2. A risk-based approach within human rights due diligence
- 2.1. Business responsibility to respect human rights
- 2.2. Risk-based approach to identification and assessment of adverse impacts
- 2.3. Shared responsibility in implementing due diligence across the chain of activities
- 2.4. Ongoing monitoring in line with a risk-based approach
- 2.5. A risk-based approach to responsible disengagement
- 3. Stakeholder engagement
- 4. Access to effective remedies and civil liability
- 5. Oversight and enforcement
- About this publication
Companies can contribute to advancing human rights and environmental protection, providing employment, livelihood stability and innovation. However, their activities can also result in interference with human rights, even leading to human rights violations such as modern-day slavery. Business activities can negatively affect the entire spectrum of internationally recognised human rights: civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. See the global heat map of the German Institute for Human Rights (GIHR) (Figure 1).
Figure 1 – Corporate human rights abuses, 2017–2022
Source: GIHR, ‘New research tool - "Global Heat Map of Alleged Corporate Abuses"’, GIHR website.
Human rights impacts and environmental degradation that companies or their subsidiaries may cause or contribute to can be prevented and mitigated through human rights and environmental due diligence processes [7]
Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly, A/RES/79/1, The Pact for the Future, 22 September 2024.
In its pact for the future, the UN encourages the private sector to contribute to sustainability, the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the sustainable development goals, through partnership-based approaches and accountability in working towards implementing UN frameworks.
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Although international voluntary frameworks have helped companies understand their responsibility to respect human rights, many still do not adequately integrate sustainability aspects into their operations [8]
European Parliamentary Research Service, ‘Towards a mandatory EU system of due diligence for supply chains’, 2020.
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In line with the UNGPs [9] See footnote 1.
, the EU has adopted a comprehensive approach to human rights, sustainability and responsible business through a ‘smart mix’ [10]
European External Action Service, ‘Business and human rights’, EEAS website, 2024.
of policy measures and legislation. Collectively, these aim to improve business practices, prevent harm and ensure effective access to remedy for affected individuals and communities. Through these measures, the EU has taken significant steps to incorporate international human rights treaties and international voluntary frameworks on business and human rights into its legal order. That includes adopting legal standards and requirements aligned with the principles and expectations laid down in the UNGPs and OECD Guidelines [11]
OECD, OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct, OECD Publishing, Paris, 2023.
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Relevant measures include those adopted under, or implementing the objective of, the European Green Deal [12]
European Commission, ‘The European Green Deal: Striving to be the first climate-neutral continent’, European Commission website.
. They enhance corporate accountability for adverse human rights and environmental impacts, including horizonal regulatory frameworks such as the CSDDD, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Taxonomy Regulation and the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation [13]
Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector (OJ L 317, 9.12.2019, p. 1).
, along with sector-specific requirements such as the Conflict Minerals Regulation [14]
Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas (OJ L 130, 19.5.2017, p. 1).
, the Dual-Use Exports Control Regulation [15]
Regulation (EU) 2021/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 setting up a Union regime for the control of exports, brokering, technical assistance, transit and transfer of dual-use items (recast) (OJ L 206, 11.6.2021, p. 1).
, the Critical Raw Materials Act [16]
Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 establishing a framework for ensuring a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials and amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1724 and (EU) 2019/1020 (OJ L, 2024/1252, 3.5.2024).
, and the Forced Labour Regulation [17]
Regulation (EU) 2024/3015 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2024 on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (OJ L, 2024/3015, 12.12.2024).
.Among these, the CSDDD [18]
Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of 13 June 2024 on corporate sustainability due diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 (OJ L, 2024/1760, 5.7.2024).
is the landmark law introducing mandatory HRDD across various stages of a company’s ‘chain of activities’ [19]
Article 3(1)(g) of Directive (EU) 2024/1760 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on corporate sustainability due diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937 and Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 (OJ L, 2024/1760, 5.7.2024).
and requiring large companies operating in the EU to adopt and put into effect climate change mitigation plans.
These laws aim to ensure accountability for adverse impacts on people and the environment. Some of these laws are now subject to revision. In such recast process, it is important that the essence of these laws is preserved so that the EU can deliver on the Green Deal in a way that advances a just transition that serves the EU internal market and its people.
In the EU, companies encounter legal uncertainty and unnecessary administrative burdens due to an unclear and fragmented legal landscape across the internal market. Several Member States have adopted their own due diligence laws, while others have not and some still are considering it [20]
European Commission, Impact assessment report accompanying the document proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on corporate sustainability due diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937, SWD/2022/42 final of 22 February 2022.
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The CSDDD represents a clear step towards necessary legal harmonisation within the EU internal market, replacing a fragmented landscape of national due diligence regimes – such as those already enacted in France (Devoir de vigilance), Germany (Lieferkettengesetz), and adopted in the Netherlands (Wet zorgplicht kinderarbeid) – with a coherent and uniform EU-wide standard [21]
Loi n° 2017-399 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d'ordre [Law on the Duty of Vigilance of Parent Companies and Ordering Companies], Journal Officiel de la République Française n°0074, 27 March 2017; Gesetz über die unternehmerischen Sorgfaltspflichten zur Vermeidung von Menschenrechtsverletzungen in Lieferketten[Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, Supply Chain Due Diligence Act], Bundesgesetzblatt I, 22 July 2021; Wet zorgplicht kinderarbeid [Child Labour Due Diligence Act], Senate of the Netherlands, 14 May 2019.
. This uniformity reduces compliance burdens for multinational corporations while setting a baseline level of protection for rights holders across jurisdictions.