Rio Tinto was one of the first companies to publish a human rights policy and to develop practical human rights guidance for employees.
While we have done much good work in the area we are evolving our approach to continue to improve our human rights performance.
Human rights as set out in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms we should all enjoy as human beings regardless of where we are from, our religion, gender, race or any other status.
Why we pay attention to human rights
The United Nations has recognised that businesses are capable of impacting on nearly all internationally recognised human rights and that they have a responsibility to respect human rights; in essence to do no harm. This does not mean that a corporation like Rio Tinto is expected to take on the human rights obligations of governments such as building hospitals and schools or stamping out endemic discrimination. But it is expected not to harm human rights through its own activities and through its business relationships, and may choose to undertake commitments or activities to support and promote human rights.
What is our current human rights approach?
Debra Valentine, Group executive, Legal & External Affairs and Executive committee member explains: “For our business to succeed we need to understand and manage our human rights risks. Acting responsibly, including respecting human rights, in both developed and emerging economies, is part of our core business.”
The way we work, our global code of business conduct, supported by our human rights policy and guidance note, details our approach. Where our practices are more stringent than local laws, we operate to our standards. We also support or have committed to comply with a range of international human rights standards and initiatives, including the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which underpins how we work with private and public security.
In 2011 the United Nations unanimously endorsed the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, designed to help companies avoid adversely impacting on human rights and address harm that occurs.
We already integrate human rights issues into our existing processes including those relating to communities and social performance; health, safety and environment; security; human resources; procurement and Group risk management. All employees can use Speak-OUT to raise human rights issues, and incidents may also be logged through the incident reporting system on the Rio Tinto Business Solution. We also support training on human rights and several of our projects and operations have had targeted training including Orientale (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Simandou (Guinea) and Oyu Tolgoi (Mongolia).
We also choose to engage in a variety of initiatives to help support and promote human rights, including through community-based partnerships and programmes such as health, education, cultural and livelihood projects.
What are the risks of getting it wrong?
We operate in diverse and often challenging social, economic, political and cultural landscapes. The actions we take to support and respect human rights help us build enduring relationships with local communities, employees and business partners, facilitating business success. But getting human rights wrong can pose real risks including operational delays, legal challenges, reputational harm, investor concern and employee dissatisfaction.
These threats may manifest themselves through community protests, permit denials, lawsuits, industrial action, international and local civil society campaigns and suspension or closure of operations. In our highly-connected world what we do, or are perceived to do, badly in one location may adversely affect our operations elsewhere. “Actions speak louder than words,” explains chief executive Tom Albanese. “The behaviour of each and every one of us will influence how the world views Rio Tinto.”
Which human rights are we most at risk of adversely impacting?
Certain human rights are likely to be more relevant for mining companies. For example, purchasing or leasing land to develop a site and related actions such as resettlement may impact on the property-related rights of Indigenous peoples as well as their right to participate in cultural life.
It is just as important that we ensure we are not involved in any violation of human rights through our suppliers, contractors, joint venture partners and non-managed operations. For instance, procuring products and services through suppliers with questionable work practices may mean being linked to allegations of child labour, unsafe working conditions and discrimination.
Human rights may be more vulnerable in developing economies or countries emerging from conflict. But this does not mean that we cannot adversely impact human rights in developed countries. Our human rights policies and processes apply wherever we operate. Consistency of approach is key though we also encourage understanding of local challenges and opportunities so that our responses remain context-specific.
So why and how are we evolving our human rights approach?
Stakeholders are paying increasing attention to our human rights performance. Investors, governments, non-government organisations and industry associations are asking us what policies and processes we have in place to respect human rights and deal with adverse impacts if things go wrong. We are also operating in more challenging and unfamiliar environments with greater risk of involvement in human rights-related abuse, particularly through business relationships.
In light of these factors, we are refreshing our human rights approach, focusing on evolving Group-wide roles and responsibilities for training, management and reporting of human rights-related risks. This refresh is being supported by a cross-function and product group working group and steering committee. Underpinned by an updated Human Rights Policy, it will add clarity and coherence to our human rights performance through:
- making sure, from site level to product groups and beyond, that our material human rights issues are understood;
- identifying and evolving the policies and processes we have in place to know and show that we respect human rights;
- enhancing Group-wide, product group and site-specific training, communication and reporting programmes building on existing initiatives; and
- strengthening internal networks to help sites, amongst others, to escalate systemic and flashpoint human rights issues; learn how others around the Group have prevented and addressed human rights challenges and better streamline existing processes.
Activities around the revised approach will occur throughout 2012. We will be rolling out an updated human rights guidance note, new subject-specific materials on human rights including practitioners’ guides for Communities & Social Performance and Security, and improved training modules for online and in-person learning.
http://www.riotinto.com/ourapproach/17194_features_22158.asp