[2020 Winter Academy] Doing Business Right: Due Diligence as Master Key to Responsible Business Conduct

The work of John Ruggie as UN Special Representative on business & human rights was prolific and had a transformative impact on the regulatory choices taken to tackle the human rights responsibilities of corporations. In particular, the second pillar of his UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), endorsed unanimously by the Human Rights Council in June 2011, has had a long-lasting influence.

This second pillar popularised the concept of human rights due diligence as the central process that businesses need to introduce in order to abide by their responsibility to respect human rights. From thereon, the concept was transplanted into a variety of regulatory instruments, such as the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises or the French law on the devoir de vigilance. In turn, it has became the touchstone of debates related to responsible business conduct and a primary demand by civil society organisations pushing for stricter regulations of transnational corporations.

Building on the DBR Winter Academy 2019, which focused on the UNGPs, the 2020 edition will dive deeper into ‘the pillar of the second pillar’: human rights due diligence. We will retrace the genealogy of the concept, investigate its theoretical underpinnings, and provide the participants with a comprehensive understanding of its practical operation through specific case studies conducted by experienced practitioners. Through a blending of theory and practice, we equip our participants with the necessary knowledge and know-how to engage with the growing practice of due diligence in their daily work at NGOs, corporations, administrations or in academia.

The Winter Academy is an advanced education programme developed by the Asser Institute in the framework of its Doing Business Right project furthering fundamental research and public debates on the responsibilities of businesses in times of globalisation. It is a platform for (future) business and human rights professionals to meet and exchange on the latest developments in the field with a team of leading experts. Download the brochure here. 

See full programme here. 

Registration

• Registration for this programme is now open, please click on the register button above to fill out the form.

Please read the Registration Information and Conditions carefully before registration.

After this training course, you will receive a professional certificate of completion from the T.M.C. Asser Instituut.

Fee
Regular fee: € 1.295, student fee: € 695
For inquiries on registration and the programme, please contact educationtraining@asser.nl. 

Scholarships available (closed)
Five partial scholarships available exclusively to outstanding master students and PhD candidates. The scholarships cover the course's tuition fee and course materials, daily lunch for the duration of the course, and an opening dinner. For more information on the scholarships and how to apply please click here. 

Doing Business Right
The T.M.C. Asser Instituut carries out research on developments in international and European law and its potential to serve the cultivation of trust and respect in the global, regional, national and local societies in which the law operates. This Winter Academy is part of the research project on ‘Doing Business Right’, which is part of the broader research strand 'Advancing Public Interests in International and European Law'.