Prof. Cees van Dam

Cees van Dam is Professor of International Business and Human Rights at the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Professor of European Tort Law at Maastricht University, and Visiting Professor at King’s College London. His Erasmus chair is established by the Foundation for Peace Studies and sponsored by Amnesty International Nederland..

Cooperating with colleagues at the Rotterdam School of Management and the Erasmus Law School, his research is on the crossroads of the legal and business management disciplines. Through his research, he aims to contribute to enhancing human rights protection of people adversely affected by multinational corporations. His main research areas comprise:

the role of the General Counsel in enhancing the company’s policies and practices to respect and protect human rights;

the role of financial institutions in encouraging their clients to respect and protect human rights;

the responsibilities and opportunities of state-owned enterprises to respecting, protecting and fulfilling human rights;

the dynamic and intertwinement between legal compliance, respecting human rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

In his Rotterdam inaugural lecture (‘Enhancing Human Rights Protection. A Company Lawyer’s Business’, 2015), he analysed how companies, in particular company lawyers, may respond to human rights challenges and dilemmas. Are the lawyers an obstacle for businesses developing human rights policies or can they play an active role in enhancing human rights protection: for their own employees, for the people working in their supply chain, for the people working at their subsidiaries, for the people living around their plants, and for the people affected by their customers?

Cees van Dam has been involved in a number of international research projects in the area of business and human rights. These include, among others, the Human Rights in Business-project, sponsored by the European Commission (2016). He regularly takes part in debates and media interviews, and lectures on various aspects of business and human rights, both in the Netherlands and abroad.

In addition to his work at RSM, Cees van Dam is Visiting Professor at King’s College London and at Maastricht University. In London he teaches English and Comparative Tort Law at the LL.B, and Business and Human Rights at the Transnational Law LL.M. In Maastricht he teaches European Tort Law at the European Law School. He is also a member of the Monitoring Committee of the Dutch Banking Sector Agreement.

About the Chair. The Endowed Chair in International Business and Human Rights at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) was established in 2013 by the Foundation for Peace Sciences (Stichting Vredeswetenschappen) and is sponsored by Amnesty International Nederland. The chair was established to complement existing business and sustainability expertise at RSM’s Business Society Management Department, with legal expertise in business and human rights.