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Cees van Dam is a world leading expert in Business and Human Rights.

At King's College London, he has been teaching Business and Human Rights in the Transnational Law LLM since 2015.

From 2014-2022 he was Professor of International Business and Human Rights at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (this was an eight year tenure sponsored by Amnesty International Nederland and the Stichting Vredeswetenschappen).

His research focuses on:

  • mandatory human rights due diligence legislation

  • litigation against transnational corporations for involvement in human rights violations

  • role of the financial sector in supporting their clients' business and human rights agenda

  • role of General Counsel in driving the company's business and human rights agenda

  • how state-owned enterprises can lead by example

  • responsibility of law firms to advise their clients in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles

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Publications/Publicaties

Verantwoordelijkheid en aansprakelijkheid voor leveranciers en afnemers nieuw

Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Burgerlijk Recht 2022/45, p. 385-401

No escape possible. Shell cannot run away from the Dutch courts

Professor's Opinion, RSM Discovery, 14 December 2021

Breakthrough in parent company liability. Three Shell defeats, the end of an era, and new paradigms

European Company and Financial Law Review 2021/5, p. 714-748

Bedrijven komen niet meer overal mee weg

Interview in Wordt vervolgd, 27 september 2021

Doorbraak in de aansprakelijkheid van moedervennootschappen. Over drie Shell nederlagen, het einde van een tijdperk en nieuwe paradigma's

In: A.R.J. Croiset van Uchelen e.a. (red.), Geschriften vanwege de Vereniging Corpoate Litigation 2020-2021 (Deventer: Kluwer, 2021), p. 177-219 (publicatie op deze site na 14 maart 2022)

The climate case and the UN's Decade of Action

Open Access Government, 21 June 2021

The Dutch climate case and the UN’s Decade of Action

RSM Discovery, 4 June 2021

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality 

European Company Law Journal 18 (2021) 3, p. 80-83

Shell liable for oil spills in Niger Delta

Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, 8 February 2021

Shell's hell and the Dutch government

LinkedIn article, 12 December 2020

Shell employees involved in causing oil leaks in Nigeria

Dutch TV programme Zembla, 10 December 2020

Options for enforceable IRBC instruments. Evaluation of legal design and enforcement of IRBC instruments

Research report for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (with Martijn Scheltema, assisted by Camille Ferdinandus en Sander Oomes) (provisional English translation of the Dutch report mentioned below)

Rotterdam: Erasmus University, 2020

Final Monitoring and Progress Report Dutch Banking Sector Agreement (with Christiane Colinet and Hans Voortman)

The Hague, SER, 20 August 2020

Opties voor afdwingbare IMVO-instrumenten. Een onderzoek naar de mogelijke juridische vormgeving en handhaving van afdwingbare IMVO-instrumenten

Onderzoeksrapport voor het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (met Martijn Scheltema, m.m.v. Camille Ferdinandus en Sander Oomes)

Rotterdam: Erasmus University, 2020

Duizenden families verjaagd voor project van Nederlandse bedrijven

Trouw, 20 januari 2020

Monitoring and Progress Report Dutch Banking Sector Agreement, Year 2 (with Christiane Colinet and Hans Voortman)

The Hague: SER, 5 July 2019

Advocaat, kom op voor mensenrechten (met Iris van Domselaar en Belinda Okoobo)

NRC Handelsblad, 28 juni 2019

Sustainable development begins with respecting human rights

Driving businesses towards the Sustainable Development Goals, Erasmus University/Coursera, 2019

Blog: Human rights in businesses and in business schools

RSM Discovery, 10 December 2018 (Human Rights Day)

Staatsondernemingen en mensenrechten (met Heleen Tiemersma)

Nederlands Juristenblad 2018, p. 3120-3128

Mainstreaming Human Rights in Sustainable Business (with Heleen Tiemersma)

In: Mainstreaming Sustainable Business. 20 years Business-Society Management, 20 years impact? (Rotterdam, Stichting Maatschappij en Onderneming, 2018), p. 262-268
 

Internationaal maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen staat nog in de kinderschoenen

Vice versa, 15 oktober 2018

Monitoring and Progress Report Dutch Banking Sector Agreement, Year 1 (with Christiane Colinet and Hans Voortman)

The Hague, SER, 5 July 2018

Corporate governance en respect voor mensenrechten

In: Mijntje Lückerath-Rovers e.a. (red.), Jaarboek Corporate governance 2018-2019 (Deventer, 2018), p. 97-115
 

Met wetten alleen zal het niet lukken

Trouw, Fair Trade bijlage, 27 oktober 2018 (Interview)

Enhancing Human Rights Protection: A Company Lawyer's Business

Inaugural Lecture Rotterdam School of Management, 18 September 2015 (Rotterdam: RSM, 2017)

Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights vis-à-vis Legal Duty of Care; three scenarios (with Filiip Gregor, and contributions from Sandrine Brachotte and Paige Morrow)

In: Juan José Àlvarez Rubio and Katarina Yiannibas (ed.), Human Rights in Business. Removal of Barriers to Access to Justice in the European Union (London, 2017), p. 119-138

Stel schone producten verplicht (met Heleen Tiemersma)

Nederlands Dagblad, 21 juni 2016 (Opinie)

Statutory human rights due diligence duties in the Netherlands

First published at www.ceesvandam.info in June 2016

Beerput Probo Koala gaat na tien jaar opnieuw open

Volkskrant, 2 maart 2016

Preliminary judgments Dutch Court of Appeal in Shell Nigeria case

First published at www.ceesvandam.info in January 2016

Human Rights Obligations of Transnational Corporations in Domestic Tort Law

In: Jernej Letnar Černič and Tara Van Ho (eds), Human Rights and Business: Direct Corporate Accountability for Human Rights (Oisterwijk, 2015), 475-497

Het EVRM en de aansprakelijkheid van private partijen

Verkeersrecht 2014/164, afl. 11, p. 410-417

Bedrijven strijden tegen onrecht (zaken doen met Israëlische nederzettingen)

Nederlands Dagblad, 11 januari 2014 (Opinie)

Shell's Victory and Embarrassment in the Dutch Court

Huffington Post, 27 February 2013

Shell in Nigeria: wegduiken kan niet

NRC 6 februari 2013 (Opinie)

Amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States (with four other academics)

In the case of Esther Kiobel a.o. v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. et al., 13 June 2012

Tort Law and Human Rights: Brothers in Arms. On the role of tort law in the area of business and human rights

Journal of European Tort Law 2 (2011), p. 221-254

Maatschappelijk verantwoord onderdrukken. Hoogwerkers versus mensenrechten in Israël

De Groene Amsterdammer 7 oktober 2009

Onderneming en mensenrechten

Oratie Universiteit Utrecht (Den Haag: Boom Juridische uitgevers, 2008), 109 p.

 

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