UniLodz research opens new chapter in UN codification of international law

The International Law Commission, the principal UN body responsible for the codification and progressive development of international law, published its first report on due diligence in international law (A/CN.4/792) in May 2026. The monograph Due Diligence in International Law (Brill, 2016), by Dr Joanna Kulesza of the Faculty of Law and Administration, is the first scholarly work cited in the report and appears in over a dozen affirmative footnotes across the full 63 pages.

The preparatory syllabus for the topic (A/79/10, Annex II), adopted by the Commission in 2024, additionally cites Kulesza's earlier monograph Należyta staranność w prawie międzynarodowym (Wydawnictwo UŁ, 2013, open access) and the article "Human Rights Due Diligence" (William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal). The research was developed over more than twenty years at the University of Lodz, with the sustained support of the Faculty and the University. The fact that this work now serves as a foundational reference for the ILC's programme is a testament to the quality of the research environment at the University of Łódź and its capacity to produce scholarship with genuine global impact.

The report, prepared by Special Rapporteur Penelope Ridings, surveys State practice, international jurisprudence, and doctrine on due diligence across international environmental law, human rights law, international humanitarian law, the law of the sea, and the application of international law to cyberspace.

The first report is available at: https://docs.un.org/A/CN.4/792
The 2024 syllabus is available at: https://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2024/english/annex2.pdf