Performance
Human rights
Rio Tinto actively supports the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our commitment to human rights is reflected in our code of conduct The way we work and our complementary guidance documents on Human Rights and Business Integrity.
In implementing human rights policies, Rio Tinto is subject to the local laws of the many countries in which we operate. We build on compliance with local laws and where our policies and procedures are more stringent, we operate to those standards wherever our operations are located.
Rio Tinto is a signatory to a host of international commitments and standards and remains dedicated to meeting them. We were involved from the inception of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (www.voluntaryprinciples.org) and have supported these principles since their announcement in 2000.
We were also a founding member of the United Nations Global Compact (www.unglobalcompact.org) and we are active members of the UK Network and the Communication on Progress Working Group. The United Nations Global Compact is a voluntary initiative for businesses committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti corruption. Our Communication on Progress is published annually on our website.
Our human rights policies and procedures have been strengthened and are supported by an online web based ethics and compliance training system. Training on the human rights module, which is compulsory at the general manager level or above is valid for two years. During 2007 and 2008 more than 3,300 employees completed human rights training.
There were no reported incidents of breaches of our human rights policy during 2008.
Rio Tinto operates in a manner consistent with the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples (UNDIP) and sovereign obligations. We respect the land connection of indigenous communities and work with them in a spirit of reciprocity, transparency and recognition of their culture. We also recognise that every indigenous community is unique and we reach specific agreement with each affected community on how it wants to engage with us in the development and performance of our operations.
