Today, it is highly debated how to realize corporate due diligence across the global value chain. Multinationals headquartered in the Global North do business through their subsidiaries, suppliers, or subcontractors in the Global South and thereby cause human rights violations or environmental damage. Should the parent company be held responsible for the wrongs committed across the global value chain? Can litigation be a viable means to combat human rights abuse or climate change? To achieve common interest and SDGs in the international community, it is necessary to overcome the North-South divide and attain shared responsibility. This seminar discusses several avenues of effecting corporate due diligence and scrutinizes the role of private international law for global governance.

About the speaker: 

Prof. Yuko Nishitani is Professor of Private International Law at Kyoto University in Japan. After her studies in Japan, she received a Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg in Germany. She did research in New York, Paris, Hamburg, Cologne, Milan, Florence, and The Hague. She has been a Visiting Professor in the U.S., Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, and Taiwan, and most recently at NYU in Spring 2023. She was also a Director of Studies (English) and Lecturer (French) at the Hague Academy of International Law and belongs to its Curatorium since 2017. She served in several Legislative Committees and represented the Japanese Government at the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

**The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1.5 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points.