H&M strengthen its commitment to human rights
Respecting human rights has always been vital to H&M both as an employer, business partner and corporate citizen. When H&M introduced our Code of Conduct during 1997, human rights was therefore very much part of the back bone. Still today, we work actively internally and with our suppliers to make sure that human rights are respected in our own operations as well as in our supply chain.
As the efforts have become more extensive over the years it is now time to formalize this in a human rights policy, to make it easy for all our stakeholders to follow our efforts within this area.
With this policy we want to formalize this commitment and demonstrate the importance of this issue for all parts of the H&M Group. The policy builds on the framework “The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”, a universal guideline for how companies should work with human rights.
– To H&M, this policy means that we will continue our ongoing work with human rights issues. We will work to further improve how human rights aspects are considered in our risk analysis for new and existing markets and how we work to address actual or potential risks. In addition, we also want to use our influence to promote the advancement of human rights in the communities where we operate, says Helena Helmersson, Head of Sustainability at H&M.
John Ruggie, Professor in Human Rights and International Affairs says, in commenting on H&M’s human rights policy.
– Having a human rights policy is a necessary basis for translating a company’s core values and commitments into operational reality. The substance of H&M’s human rights policy statement closely tracks the relevant provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The adoption of a credible human rights policy is a critical first step for a company to demonstrate its commitment to respecting human rights. It can be the beginning of a transformative experience for a company, moving from a posture that is reactive to external pressure, to proactively knowing and showing that it respects human rights.”