Human Rights
- Strong PoliciesOur efforts are anchored in policies that apply across all aspects of our business – from our own operations, to our supply chain, to the communities in which we operate. In a commitment to continuously raising the bar, in 2019, we codified our long-standing commitment to human rights in the form of Amazon’s Global Human Rights Principles, which reflect the foundation of how we embed respect for human rights throughout our business.
- Embedding Human Rights Into Our BusinessWe are committed to embedding human rights considerations into decision-making across the company and into our policy and governance framework. This governance starts with Amazon’s Board of Directors, which appoints committees for oversight on specific issues. Among other duties, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee oversees Amazon’s global environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and corporate governance policies, practices and initiatives. The Leadership Development and Compensation Committee oversees Amazon’s global human capital management strategies and policies. As a global company, we recognise the responsibility and opportunity we have to raise awareness among our employees on human rights issues. In 2020, we enhanced our training on human trafficking and forced labour for employees in our logistics network.
- Mechanisms to Address RiskWe are committed to identifying, preventing, and mitigating adverse human rights impacts, and are continuously working to improve our approach. At Amazon, every business deploys a variety of mechanisms to help us inspect our business and make decisions at various points of product and process development and in the execution of our day-to-day operations. Social Responsibility teams review the performance and impact of our own programs and inspect activity in our global supply chains. We know we have more to do, and we are committed to widening our lens to better understand the potential human rights impacts of our business.
- Transparency and Stakeholder EngagementWe are committed to driving industry-wide best practices in human rights due diligence through increased disclosures about our approach and by expanding our stakeholder engagement. Each year, we publicly share the most up-to-date information about our programs, including external partnerships with organizations that share our core human rights values.
We publish an interactive supply chain map that provides details on suppliers of Amazon-branded apparel, consumer electronics, food and beverage, and home goods products. We expanded the map in 2020 to include suppliers’ factory locations, additional suppliers and product categories, more information on capacity building programs completed by individual suppliers, and gender data, where available.
In 2020, we disclosed additional information about our supplier assessment process and audit results, our approach to worker engagement, and the goals we have set for ourselves on such topics as forced labor training and women’s empowerment. In this report, we provide an update on our goals, the results of our mapping to understand our salient human rights risks, the results of our devices human rights impact assessment, and year-over-year supplier audit results. We report annually in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Reporting Framework and we annually update our Modern Slavery Statement.
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From the associates in our fulfilment centres, to the drivers delivering packages to our customers, to the factory workers making the products we sell – people are critical to our mission of being earth’s most customer-centric company. These values have been long-held at Amazon, and codifying them into a set of Human Rights Principles demonstrates our support for fundamental human rights and the dignity of workers everywhere we operate around the world. We are committed to embedding respect for human rights throughout our business.
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Our Supply Chain Standards detail the requirements and expectations for our suppliers, their supply chains and selling partners who list products in our stores. They are grounded in principles of inclusivity, continuous improvement and supply chain accountability. We engage with suppliers that are committed to these same principles; suppliers are subject to these standards as a condition of doing business with us.
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Responsible Sourcing
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Supply Chain Commitments
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Employee Engagement
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
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Safety, Health & Well-being


Our existing policies and programmes currently address many of these risks, however, we will use the assessment results to build on current practice and prioritise our human rights due diligence efforts. One important due diligence tool is a human rights impact assessment (HRIA). HRIAs are an effective mechanism to identify and address adverse impacts business activities might have on individuals such as workers, local community members or consumers. The process involves meaningful engagement with external stakeholders to gain a full understanding of potential impacts.
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Human Rights Impact Assessment: Amazon DevicesIn 2020, we conducted our first HRIA to assess the raw and recovered materials supply chain for Amazon-branded digital devices (Kindle, Fire TV, Fire Tablet, Ring and Echo), including the manufacture, assembly and return of those products.
Human Trafficking Awareness
Amazon does not tolerate the use of child labour, forced labour, or human trafficking in any form in our operations or value chain. We have detailed the components of this commitment to combating human trafficking (also referred to as modern slavery) in our annual Modern Slavery Statement, our Supply Chain Standards and our Global Human Rights Principles.
We’re raising awareness via employee training and partnerships. Our human trafficking awareness programme provides ongoing training to employees around the world to recognise indicators of human trafficking and report concerns to appropriate authorities in a way that puts the interests of victims first. To develop the training, we incorporated videos and materials from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA), a UK public agency focused on investigating labour exploitation. Our global security operations team has immediate response protocols in the event of a suspected human trafficking-related issue, regardless of where the issue arises.
We are also an official corporate sponsor of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), an organisation dedicated to combating human trafficking in the trucking industry, and began using TAT training modules to train our internal fleet of drivers, teaching them how to identify and respond to potential victims of human trafficking. As of January 2021, we trained 100 % of Amazon employees who are behind the wheels of trucks in our middle-mile business.
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Modern Slavery StatementAmazon does not tolerate the use of child labour, forced labour, or human trafficking in any form in our operations or value chain.
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Amazon’s Sustainability Data Initiative is helping climate research become more inclusive by providing free access to data.
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Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly programme makes it easier for customers to shop from UK small businesses who are meeting sustainability standards.
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The 12-week programme is designed to boost early-stage startups creating sustainability-focused products.