Indian-origin law professor Surya Deva has been appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as an adviser on human rights and multinationals and businesses. The Council approved his appointment to the position formally known as “Special Procedure Mandate Holder“. He will be a member of the four-member Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

• Deva is an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong’s School of Law. He specialises in human rights and businesses, as well as Indian and Chinese constitutional law, corporate social responsibility and development.
• According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the advisers report annually to the Council and in most cases to the UN General Assembly.
• They take up individual cases and broader concerns in their fields with government, convene consultations with experts and “contribute to the development of international human rights standards”.

Did You Know?

• The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations System inter-governmental body whose 47 member states are responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world.
• The UNHRC is the successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights, and is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly.
• The council works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and engages the United Nations’ special procedures.
• The General Assembly established the UNHRC by adopting a resolution on 15 March 2006, in order to replace the previous CHR, which had been heavily criticised for allowing countries with poor human rights records to be members.