Securing human rights

Last updated: 29 May 2025

Guillaume, our Security Business Partner for the Americas, is supporting our sites to help create safe, respectful and secure environments – for our people, operations and the communities where we operate.

The security risk profile of each of our operations is different – affected by what we are producing, how we produce it, and where we produce it – and we may work with private security companies and public security forces such as local police or military to help manage these risks.

Guillaume works closely with our sites’ security champions and their teams to ensure that no matter the security arrangements or incident management, human rights are always respected.

"Regardless of where we operate, it’s vital our approach to security is grounded in respect for human rights – a balance that protects our operations, avoids escalation and ensures any necessary response is measured and appropriate. 

We’re a founding participant of the Voluntary Principles Initiative (VPI), a membership-based network dedicated to sharing best practice and supporting the implementation of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPSHR). 

The VPSHR provides guidance for companies about how to engage with their security providers to ensure human rights are respected. To become a member, a business must demonstrate its commitment to respect human rights, and that it manages its security in line with the requirements of the VPSHR. Members are mostly companies in the extractive industry, because the risks tend to be higher in these sectors. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have also become members, as have governments of countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and US, who have committed that their national security arrangements will meet the VPSHR requirements. 

Every year, we report publicly about our security processes and the actions we’ve taken to uphold the VPSHR – like how we’ve carried out security and human rights risk assessments of our sites.  

An important part of being a member is performing due diligence on our suppliers including to make sure they understand our commitment to the VPSHR and have no history of human rights violations. We must also have mechanisms in place so stakeholders can report grievances. 

I spend a large part of my days focused on training, helping security teams and contractors to have a thorough understanding of what it means to protect people and property in a way that respects human rights – including how to respond appropriately if challenges arise. We also provide our site security teams with the tools and guidance they need to maintain this knowledge and share it with new team members.  

In 2024, I was really proud to develop new training materials to help our leaders build a better understanding of the VPSHR and what it means in practice at our sites. Educating leaders is important because they play a key role in supporting decisions that uphold both security and respect for human rights, everywhere we operate.  

Respecting human rights means looking after everyone involved in our security practices – including the security personnel themselves. This can look like ensuring they have access to appropriate personal protective equipment, training, shelter, fair wages and good working conditions.   

Over time, our approach to security has evolved, with improved practices that place greater emphasis on understanding the potential impact our activities may have on people and communities. This has also helped embed human rights considerations more deeply in the way we work – shaping both our organisation and culture.  

This commitment has positioned us as a leading contributor in implementing and promoting the VPSHR. We are always sharing our lessons learned and good practices with others – both within and beyond our industry – so we can collectively raise the bar on security and human rights around the world.” 

Learn more about our approach to respecting human rights.