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Human rights

We are committed to upholding human rights, and we actively support their implementation in our area of influence. Our policy is based on the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO’s International Labor Standards, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the human rights principles of the UN Global Compact, as well as the current version of the Protect, Respect and Remedy framework report of Prof. John Ruggie. We are also an active member of the LEAD group that was presented in Davos in January 2010. Our basic corporate principles, such as our Integrity Code, CSR principles, company agreements, and sustainability guidelines for suppliers have all been derived from these basic documents. We believe that all human rights are important, but for us as an automaker the main focus is on employee rights, such as the right to assemble, the right to engage in wage negotiations, the right to equal opportunity, and the right to receive equal pay for equal work. We oppose forced labor and we support measures to effectively eliminate exploitative child labor. In order to ensure that human rights are upheld in our business operations all over the world, we are working on an even better definition of areas of responsibility and communication structures. A central role is played in human rights issues as well by our Business Practices Office (BPO), which receives tips — including anonymous ones — concerning violations of laws and regulations. In cases of suspicious behavior, for example in the supply chain, we can rely on our long-standing cooperation with our World Employee Committee (WBC).

Responsibility and dialogue. In the “Sustainability Dialogue” of 2009 we promised to increase our involvement in two areas. In order to define more precisely our special corporate responsibility with regard to human rights and to delineate as clearly as possible the respective areas of responsibility of political and economic actors, we engage in dialogue with governmental and nongovernmental institutions. On this basis we raise human rights issues in the organizations of which we are a member (the VDA, for example) and promote joint initiatives by the industry. In addition, we have committed ourselves to strengthening awareness of human rights within our company and to embedding this awareness in key processes. For example, last year we expanded the web based Code of Conduct training program that is obligatory for all of our administrative employees throughout the world by adding a human rights module that was developed in cooperation with a human rights organization. The latter was developed in cooperation with a human rights organization. In addition, the face-to-face anti-corruption training courses which we conducted all over the world in 2010 included the topic of human rights. The training courses on compliance for newly appointed managers and all participants of the Daimler trainee program also deal with human rights issues.

Human rights impact assessment. In the course of the “Sustainability Dialogue” in 2010 we were also able to work out the concrete details of our plans for a human rights compliance impact assessment. We discussed our plan, using an actual country as an example, with the person in charge of our national subsidiary in the country and with internationally recognized human rights experts. In this connection, in 2011 we aim to develop a preventive risk management procedure with regard to human rights issues. This procedure will include the systematic evaluation of our business locations from the standpoint of human rights. We also aim to involve the areas of procurement and sales more intensely as we move toward an integrated approach to human rights issues along our entire value chain.