New centre will use due diligence laws to hold firms accountable for supply chain abuses

Body to provide resources and guidance to workers, and combat ‘an overreliance on social audits’ among companies

Trade unions plan to use due diligence laws to hold more companies accountable for human rights abuses in their supply chains. 

A new Competence Centre for Human Rights Due Diligence was launched on Thursday, to help workers mount legal challenges against firms covered by laws such as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, and the US Forced Labour Prevention Act. 

Guidance on how to understand and leverage the laws will be provided via a help desk, along with online training, resources and case studies.  

“We’ve already seen what’s possible. Our members have used the German supply chain law to stop anti-union campaigns and improve their jobs through collective bargaining,” said Christy Hoffman, the general secretary of one of the project’s architects, UNI Global Union. 

“The Competence Centre will help unions everywhere do the same – because when these laws work properly, the result goes beyond legal compliance.”

In a statement, the centre said companies currently display “an overreliance on social audits” when complying with human rights due diligence, which it added “often amount to box-ticking exercises”.  

It is running pilots with peers across Africa and Asia to develop ways to take a more “dialogue-based process”. 

The centre, which has been in the works since 2023, will also establish an advisory body this year, including representatives from non-financial companies.