Minerva BHR is an international consultancy company with established offices in Turkey and France that offers operational and strategic services focused on human rights and environmental due diligence.
We support companies in fulfilling their responsibilities to respect human rights throughout their activities and business relationships in their value chains by combining local knowledge with international best practice.
We offer proven human rights expertise, objectivity, and comprehensiveness to our clients in addressing their human rights footprint associated with their business activities.
Minerva BHR aims to ensure meaningful implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by providing insights and expertise tailored to companies’ individual, contextual and sectoral needs.
Consultancy services, which Minerva BHR creates with a multi-faceted approach empowered by global, regional and local expertise, enable doing business in line with internationally recognized human rights supported by the relevant human rights due diligence legislations and international standards on BHR and ESG.
Minerva BHR works with public, private, and civil society actors to develop and report viable, feasible and practical solutions by acknowledging the need for a multi-stakeholder approach and collaboration for sustainable solutions and practices in both the BHR and ESG fields. Minerva BHR has a global network with a range of highly qualified legal specialists and experts, field researchers and academicians specialised in BHR, ESG and complementary areas.
Act as a strategic partner in advancing responsible business conduct and companies’ human rights journey.
A just and equitable future through collaborating with all stakeholders to transform business impacts on society
Our work goes beyond industry-specific challenges; we also provide expertise in a wide range of thematic areas that affect businesses and communities alike. Whether your company is dealing with traditional labor issues or navigating the implications of emerging technologies, Minerva BHR offers specialized knowledge to help you meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
At Minerva BHR, we understand that every industry faces unique challenges when it comes to human rights and environmental responsibility. That’s why we offer industry-specific expertise to deliver targeted, impactful solutions that align with the specific needs of each sector. Our cross-sectoral approach allows us to work with clients from a wide range of industries, providing customized guidance that helps them navigate sector-specific human rights risks and regulatory requirements.
As the first organisation focused on BHR in Turkey, our expertise revolves around human rights and environmental due diligence. These include high-level corporate gap analysis, detailed field studies, and sector specific, thematic due diligence and sustainability reporting.
Our diagnostic approach is founded on the application of standards outlined in the UNGPs and the OECD Guidelines, as well as the EU legislation on HREDD and sustainability reporting. We actively contribute to the development of and get inspired from global best practice methodologies.
Our team consists of experts who excel in navigating complex regulations and compliance issues related to BHR and ESG. Complementing this expertise, we have a diverse group of consultants, including lawyers, psychologists, data analysts, sociologists, MDs and other specialists.
At Minerva BHR, our dynamic and diverse team of professionals brings decades of expertise in human rights, environmental due diligence, regulatory compliance, and sustainability. Our experts work across various industries and regions, delivering tailored solutions that address the specific challenges businesses face, while ensuring alignment with international human rights standards.
Meet Juno, our dedicated office Irish Wolfhound and part-time treat quality controller. She takes her role of sampling all new dog treats very seriously, giving each one a “paws up” before approving them for wider distribution.
Juno is both a vigilant doorbell, alerting us to every delivery, and a soft, cuddly companion who loves chest rubs. When she’s not notifying us about visitors, she enjoys taking well-deserved naps. And of course, she never misses a chance to “quality test” every treat that comes through the door!
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Atty. Dr. Çiğdem Çımrın
Co-Executive Director and Founding Partner
Turkey Focal Point
Dr. Çımrın is a qualified lawyer in Turkey and a business and human rights expert, gained through her academic and professional work. She wrote the first PhD thesis focusing on corporate responsibility to respect human rights and HRDD in Turkey. Since 2016, she has been acting as project manager in various projects focusing on responsible business conduct and HRDD in supply chains.
She works with international organizations, public, private and civil society actors; in projects concerning informality, labour rights, freedom of association, child labour, women rights, migrants and refugees, GBVH, youth employment, OHS in different export-oriented sectors – particularly, textile and garment, agriculture (cosmetics and food), automotive and energy.
Her current assignments include Independent Expert Mediator at ACT on Living Wages, Expert Advisor on BHR to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, BHR Expert for the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey within the scope of “Monitoring Human Rights and Advocating Compliance with the International Human Rights Framework”, Expert Advisor on BHR for UNDP Turkey for “Business and Human Rights: Promoting Responsible Business Behavior in Turkey Project”, and BHR Advisor for Global Compact Turkey Network.
Dr. Çımrın is Minerva BHR’s Co-Founder and Managing Consultant. She is also a registered consultant at Social Accountability International. Prior establishing Minerva BHR, she was the Country Manager of the Centre for Child Rights and Business. She gave lectures on Responsible Business Conduct in Agricultural Supply Chains at Bahçeşehir University Law Faculty.
Dr. Kara is a lawyer specializing in business and human rights (BHR). Her area of expertise focuses on corporate responsibility in corporate groups and global supply chains, human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD), and, in this context, practices under the CSDDD and the CSRD. Dr. Kara provides consultancy to companies and business organizations on their HREDD and sustainability reporting obligations. She has consulted for UN agencies such as UNDP and UNICEF and has conducted projects on BHR in collaboration with various public institutions, civil society organizations, and trade unions.
Among her different roles, she has served as an Expert Consultant to the Delegation of the EU to Türkiye for ‘Monitoring Human Rights Situation and Advocating for Compliance within the International Human Rights Framework’, Expert Advisor on BHR for UNDP Türkiye for “Business and Human Rights: Promoting Responsible Business Behaviour in Turkey Project”, Expert Advisor on BHR to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and BHR Advisor for Global Compact Turkey Network.
Dr. Kara completed her PhD studies in private law focusing on HREDD, with her thesis titled “Tort Liability in Multinational Corporate Groups”, which was published by Springer in 2023 as part of the Ius Gentium series. Dr. Kara also acts as a visiting lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law’s Private Law PhD program, teaching courses on sustainability, responsible business conduct, and ESG topics.
Serra is a lawyer and a senior consultant at Minerva BHR.
Serra brings a wealth of experience to her role, particularly in developing human rights policies, designing compliance frameworks, managing supply chain risks, and overseeing responsible contracting for multinational companies operating in Turkey. Her expertise also extends to research, evaluation, and capacity-building initiatives, where she has played a pivotal role in human rights risk mitigation projects across diverse Turkish supply chains. Serra has collaborated with international organizations to implement robust human rights due diligence mechanisms, ensuring that businesses meet global standards while addressing local challenges.
Serra holds a LLB and BA in International Relations and Policital Science from Istanbul University and is studying her LLM in Human Rights Law from Istanbul Bilgi University and her second LLM at SOAS University of London with specialism on Human Rights, Conflict, Justice.
Özge is a lawyer and a senior consultant at Minerva BHR.
She is experienced in establishing human rights policies, designing human rights compliance processes, managing supply chain risks, improvement and capacity building in the supply chains of multinational companies supplying goods and services from Turkey. She is competent in undertaking research, assessments and training activities within this scope.
She has taken an active role in projects and field studies of child labour elimination and remediation in rose and hazelnut supply chains in Turkey. She has prepared and conducted various trainings for multinational companies, including European and UK garment brands, regarding forced labour and modern slavery related issues. She attended various trainings on the identification, prevention, elimination and remediation of child labour in businesses, and on monitoring human rights violations in businesses.
Özge holds a LLB from Istanbul Bilgi University and a LLM in Public International Law from Koç University in Istanbul.
