Under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, companies have a responsibility to respect human rights and undertake human rights due diligence. Yet 15 years after their adoption, accounts of ongoing abuse as well as benchmarks and analyses demonstrate low levels of commitment. Fewer than 10% of the world's most influential companies assess human rights risks in supply chains and less than 5% pay a living wage according to latest WBA benchmarks. Only 24% of companies assessed for our 2026 KnowTheChain food and beverage benchmark disclosed any engagement with affected rightsholders or their representatives to address forced labour risks. This is what mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence laws seek to address.

Despite some recent setbacks, the past decade has seen growing momentum among governments to require companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence, from the French Duty of Vigilance Law in 2017 and the adoption of new laws in Germany and Norway in 2021, to the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Even though the scope of companies covered and some of its protections were massively scaled back in an 'Omnibus Simplification' process, the CSDDD still constitutes a landmark shift for corporate accountabilty. The trend is continuing in the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Canada and elsewhere.

Civil society across the world has been pushing for more robust requirements on companies for years and has been outspoken on the key elements these laws should include to be effective: a due diligence obligation for all businesses across their full global value chains; effective and safe stakeholder engagement; mandatory requirements that go beyond tick-box exercises and auditing, address irresponsible business models and purchasing practices, and are embedded in appropriate governance and accountability structures; and a strong civil liability regime.

This portal collects the latest news on mandatory human rights due diligence, national and regional developments, public company statements in support of mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, guidance for companies and governments, and examples of company implementation of human rights due diligence. It also hosts a blog series where experts from civil society, governments and business discuss what mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence could mean for advancing human rights in business.