Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Law School Room 4000 | 2:00 p.m.

While the interface of business with human rights is not new, ‘business and human rights’ (BHR) as a distinct field has a relatively recent origin. In this talk, Professor Surya Deva, professor at City University of Hong Kong and a member, U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights, will discuss gender dimensions of BHR, an issue that has received limited attention despite business activities having differentiated and disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Professor Deva will draw on a 2019 report that he wrote and presented to the UN Human Rights Council. This report proposes a gender framework as well as specific gender guidance for the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

This talk will be moderated by Professor Rachel Brewster, Jeffrey and Bettysue Hughes Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for International and Comparative Law, and Professor Aya Fujimura-Fanselow, Senior Lecturing Fellow and Supervising Attorney of the Duke International Human Rights Clinic. The program is part of the Human Rights in Practice series, which is sponsored by Duke Law's International Human Rights Clinic and the Center for International and Comparative Law.

The event is free, but space is extremely limited and you must sign-up* to attend with Balfour Smith at bsmith@law.duke.edu. [*Students enrolled in the spring 2020 International Trade Law class or the International Human Rights Clinic do not need to sign-up.]

Surya Deva

Surya Deva is an Associate Professor at the School of Law of the City University of Hong Kong, and a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. Prof. Deva’s primary research interests lie in business and human rights, India-China constitutional law, and sustainable development. He has published extensively in these areas, and has advised UN bodies, governments, multinational corporations, and civil society organisations on matters related to business and human rights.  He is one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal, and sits on the Editorial/Advisory Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, the Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law and the Australian Journal of Human Rights. Prof. Deva is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law.