17 Sep Human Rights Organisations Bring Expertise from the Global South to European Guidelines on Corporate Due Diligence
- ProDESC and the Business and Human Rights Centre present technical recommendations to ensure that the implementation of the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive prioritizes the rights of affected individuals and communities.
Mexico City / Berlin / London, September 17, 2026.— The Project on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ProDESC) and the Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) submitted expert contributions to the European Commission’s consultation on future guidelines for implementing the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), one of the main regulatory frameworks developed in recent years to prevent and address harmful business impacts on human rights and the environment.
The European Commission consultation, held from June 12 to August 14, 2026, sought to gather evidence and practical experience to define guidelines on key aspects of the Directive’s implementation, including identifying and prioritizing risks, remedies, third-party verification, and the participation of potentially affected individuals and communities.
BHRC coordinated responses to 15 key questions in the consultation together with nine international partner organisations, including ProDESC, which also submitted a complementary contribution based on its experience with transnational advocacy from the Global South. The submissions incorporate a perspective drawn from the experience of organisations working directly with workers, Indigenous peoples, communities, and human rights defenders in different regions of the world.
Ensuring Effective Due Diligence
Among their main recommendations, the organisations caution that implementing the CSDDD must stay true to the law’s focus on effective action and engagement, rather than becoming a formal compliance exercise based exclusively on audits, certifications, or checklists.
The submissions argue that due diligence must be grounded in risks to people, communities, and the environment, not in criteria of financial materiality, ease of implementation, or business expediency. They also propose incorporating a structural and intersectional analysis that can identify who faces disproportionate impacts and how economic, institutional, and territorial relationships can produce or exacerbate such harms.
From this perspective, future European guidelines should explicitly recognize the specific conditions under which corporate impacts occur in the Global South, including contexts marked by historical inequalities, dispossession, corruption, impunity, institutional weakness, or restrictions on civic space.
“The importance of these guidelines lies in how they will translate due diligence obligations into concrete decisions for companies. Our experience working alongside communities, Indigenous Peoples, and workers shows us that the most serious impacts often occur precisely where there is the least information, the greatest power imbalances, and the fewest opportunities to speak out. The European guidelines must prevent these conditions from becoming a reason to obscure or downplay risks and, instead, ensure that the voices and rights of those affected serve as the starting point for due diligence,” said Eduardo Villarreal, ProDESC’s Analysis and Advocacy Coordinator.
Regarding risk prioritisation, the contributions reiterate that prioritisation means sequencing what human rights and environmental issues to tackle first, without unduly postponing or failing to take action on other impacts of corporate activity. Decisions must be based primarily on severity—scale, scope, and irremediability—and must account for the structural, territorial, and institutional conditions that cause certain groups to face disproportionate risks.
Meaningful Participation of Communities and Workers
Another central pillar is ensuring meaningful, safe, and continuous participation by rights holders at all stages of due diligence: in risk identification, prioritisation, prevention, measures to end and remediate abuse, and in long-term effectiveness monitoring even though Omnibus I revisions have made stakeholder engagement requirements less explicit regarding this last aspect.
The organisations maintain that engagement cannot be reduced to one-off consultations or limited to interlocutors designated by the companies themselves. In the case of Indigenous Peoples, their institutions and their own forms of representation must be respected, and processes under the CSDDD cannot substitute for free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) when it is applicable.
Furthermore, companies must create the material conditions necessary for effective participation—including translation, transportation, care, independent legal and technical advice, or community monitoring mechanisms—while respecting the autonomy of community representatives, advisors, or the evidence presented by the communities.
“Effective, rightsholder-centric implementation of the CSDDD will be key for it to unfold its potential as a driver of a real level playing field of genuine due diligence, the necessary changes in business practice, and tangible outcomes for workers and communities along global value chains. While we’d caution against the ‘cost effectiveness’ framing of some of the consultation questions, we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with ProDESC and other partners from the Global South and hope the experience and insights of those working closely with rightsholders will play a central role in shaping CSDDD implementation,” said Johannes Blankenbach of the Business and Human Rights Centre.
Remedy and Going Beyond Social Auditing
The recommendations also emphasize that remedy must be adequate, effective, timely, and developed in consultation with those affected, encompassing both individual and collective measures and addressing not only the consequences of the harm but also its causes. This may include restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, environmental restoration, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.
Regarding external audits and verification, the organisations warn of the risk of companies continuing to overly rely on them even though the CSDDD requires a smarter, more collaborative and more effective approach. They recommend mechanisms that ensure independence and transparency regarding conflicts of interest and methodologies, opportunities for workers, communities, and local organisations to challenge audit results without facing reprisals, as well as genuine due diligence beyond social auditing.
The submissions agree on a central premise: effective due diligence must go beyond compliance procedures and bring about changes in core business practices that cause or exacerbate impacts on human rights and the environment. These include procurement practices, pricing, project design, financing, and other corporate decisions that can create or aggravate risks, including in the supply chain.
The European Commission is expected to use the contributions received during this consultation as evidence to inform the development of future guidelines for implementing the CSDDD. These guidelines will be relevant to companies subject to the Directive, their value chains, the authorities responsible for overseeing it, and the individuals and communities seeking to assert their rights in the face of business impacts.
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About ProDESC
The Project on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ProDESC) is a Mexican human rights organization with experience in supporting workers, communities, and indigenous peoples in the face of impacts related to business activities, as well as in strategies for transnational justice and human rights due diligence.
About the Business and Human Rights Centre
The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is a global organisation working at the intersection of business and human rights. With partners and allies worldwide, we seek to put human rights at the heart of business to deliver a just economy, climate justice, and end abuse. Our website is the only global business and human rights knowledge hub.
Media Contact:
ProDESC: Valeria Berumen Ornelas, comunicacion.estrategica@prodesc.org.mx, Phone/WhatsApp: +52 551503 2410
Business and Human Rights Centre: Priyanka Mogul, mogul@business-humanrights.org