Mr. Surya Deva

Mr. Surya Deva was appointed the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development by the Human Rights Council at its 52nd session in April 2023. He took up this role on 1 May 2023. Deva is a Professor at the Macquarie Law School and Director of the Environmental Law Research Centre as well as the B&HR Access to Justice Lab at Macquarie University, Australia. 

He is an internationally recognised scholar in the field of business and human rights and served as a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights (2016-22). Deva has advised UN entities, Governments, national human rights institutions, multinational corporations, trade unions and civil society organisations on issues related to business and human rights. He also researches in the areas of comparative constitutional law, international human rights law, sustainable development, climate change and gender equality.

Deva has published extensively in the areas of his research expertise. He has presented over 100 papers at international conferences and delivered keynote addresses in all world regions. Deva was invited to speak at the American Society of International Law Annual Meeting (2016) and (2022), one of the most prestigious annual conferences in the field of international law. He was also invited to speak at the ASIL Abroad (2024). Two of Deva’s UN reports were cited by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its advisory opinion on climate emergency and human rights.

Prior to joining Macquarie University in 2021, Deva was an Associate Professor at the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong. Previously he taught at the University of Delhi and the National Law Institute University Bhopal. He holds BA (Hons) Political Science, LLB and LLM from the University of Delhi and a PhD from the University of Sydney.

Deva was one of the founding Editors-in-Chief of the Business and Human Rights Journal and sits on the Editorial Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. He is an elected Vice President of the International Association of Constitutional Law (2022-26).