Respecting human rights is a core Business Principle and an essential consideration wherever we operate. Cairn supports and respects internationally recognised principles and standards relating to human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, within the scope of our activities. Respect for human rights applies equally to our employees and contractors, as well as local communities that are potentially impacted by our operations.
Ensuring staff are treated with dignity and respect encourages a positive work culture. Our CSR and extensive HR policies incorporate recruitment, grievance, harassment and equal opportunities; management training/development is provided to staff.
Cairn’s Human Rights Guidelines outline a ‘rights aware’ approach to identifying and managing human rights issues within our sphere of influence. The Guidelines integrate the recommendations of UN Special Representative, John Ruggie, and reflect the new ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework. In addition, our Group Security Guidelines detail security procedures to be applied within our operations and ensure our standards, equipment and training reflect the requirements of key UN Human Rights Guidance and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR).
Before starting operations, we assess actual and potential human rights impacts – both through our business activities and across the supply chain. If this highlights any specific human rights issues that are within Cairn’s sphere of influence, we take action to mitigate the risk of any violations.
Our five-step process to Human Rights management involves:
- identifying potential and actual impacts;
- planning, integrating and acting on findings;
- monitoring, measuring and tracking;
- communicating and reporting; and
- reviewing and evaluating.
During a project’s lifetime, not all human rights issues that arise will be anticipated and pre-empted during the assessment process and therefore cannot be planned for in advance. In these situations, Cairn has longstanding mechanisms in place to address community and employee grievances, should these arise.
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