From law to action: New centre to strengthen workers’ rights through human rights due diligence laws
With regulations like the German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains and the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), millions of workers around the globe have access to new tools to protect their rights. However, without adequate enforcement and accountability support, these laws risk becoming box-ticking measures rather than real safeguards.
The new centre fills a much-needed gap.
Pilot programmes are underway with trade unions in the mining sector in Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and the garment sector in Cambodia, Indonesia and Bangladesh, to test and develop strategies for workers to be meaningfully involved in the human rights due diligence process for their value chains.
The vision for these pilots is to move companies from an overreliance on social audits, which often amount to box-ticking exercises, to a dialogue-based process with workers at the core. The centre will support unions to advocate for their role as stakeholders in risk identification, in action plan design, and in dialogue to define and ensure remedies.
“We are at a pivotal moment. New human rights due diligence and trade laws are fundamentally changing how business is done in global supply chains. The legal infrastructure for responsible business is still being built across the world, but practices must start changing now. Workers and their unions must be at the centre of company assessment, mitigation and remediation of human rights risks. The Competence Centre will support workers and their representatives to make sure these new laws deliver concrete results for workers in value chains that underpin our global economy,”
says Kelly Fay Rodríguez, head of the new Competence Centre.
The official launch event on 26 March will focus on the evolving legal landscape, models for embedding workers’ rights in supply chain due diligence, and workers’ perspectives on responsible business conduct.
“For too long, human rights due diligence has meant paperwork, not progress. Workers in global supply chains need more than laws on paper – they need the tools and support to make those laws work for them. The Competence Centre gives unions the leverage to do exactly that: to move from compliance rituals to real accountability, and to ensure that workers are at the heart of the process, not an afterthought,”
says Atle Høie, IndustriALL general secretary.
Workers will talk about their real-life experience with human rights due diligence, how it has improved conditions and why it is urgently needed. Companies will detail how workers and unions augment their approach to risks and human rights due diligence. Policy makers will frame the need for the centre to strengthen due diligence laws.
“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. The Competence Centre will help unions everywhere do the same – because when these laws work properly, the result goes beyond legal compliance. It means safer jobs and lives protected,”
says Christy Hoffman, UNI Global Union general secretary.
The centre will operate a virtual helpdesk for trade unions – a strategic hub providing advice, guidance and referrals on human rights due diligence laws. The helpdesk will identify where regulatory frameworks and accountability mechanisms create additional leverage for unions to challenge rights violations and get remedy for workers where it is due. It will also provide a crucial connection for rightsholders to legal and advocacy groups who can support them in bringing cases.
“Due diligence laws are only as strong as their enforcement. Without real accountability, they risk becoming box-ticking exercises. This new Competence Centre will help ensure workers have a seat at the table and a real say in how risks are identified and addressed. When properly implemented, due diligence not only protects workers’ rights – it also strengthens the resilience of global supply chains. For the DGB, that is non-negotiable,“
says Yasmin Fahimi, president of the German Confederation of Trade Unions.
The centre’s steering committee, comprised of UNI, IndustriALL and DGB, will focus on three key objectives:
1. Build capacity of trade unions globally to use human rights due diligence obligations to defend workers’ rights.
2. Support strategic interventions using HRDD instruments to address specific workers’ rights violations.
3. Advocate for effective human rights due diligence laws and their implementation.
UNI Global Union and IndustriALL Global Union have worked with partners in Germany, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the German trade union confederation DGB, to build this new resource for the global labour movement. The establishment of the Competence Centre is financed by IGS (Investing in Resilient and Sustainable Global Supply Chains), a global programme of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Competence Centre is a non-profit foundation registered in the Netherlands and is building a small, remote team based in Europe, the US, Asia and Africa.
Background
The German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act has been in effect since January 2023 and will be a key focus of the centre’s activities. The Supply Chain Act requires large companies (over 1,000 employees) to conduct human rights due diligence to identify, mitigate and prevent risks of abuse of human rights and environmental harm in their global operations and supply chains.
The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was adopted in February 2026 and must be implemented by all EU member states by July 2028. The centre’s mandate will be expanded once the CSDDD is in force.
Other relevant corporate legal accountability instruments include the EU Forced Labour Regulation, the US Forced Labour Prevention Act, and trade agreements containing labour rights provisions.
