The Global Compact is an accord between the United Nations and business for cooperation and promotion in upholding a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards and environmental practice. It was proposed in a speech to business at the World Economic Forum in January 1999 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Rio Tinto was an early endorser of the Global Compact.

The Global Compact operates in the spirit of continuous improvement, with a Learning Forum to stimulate good practices, and dissemination of case studies on the Global Compact. A country outreach programme has been under way for some time, working with the business community in developing countries to adapt the Global Compact principles to local cultures and rooting the Global Compact in all regions of the world.

The principles of the Global Compact relating to human rights and environmental and labour standards seek to:

• support and respect the protection of international human rights within the sphere of influence of the participants; and
• ensure no complicity in human rights abuses.