Global Human Rights Principles

From the associates in our fulfillment centers, 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. Our Human Rights Principles demonstrate our support for fundamental human rights and the dignity of workers everywhere we operate around the world.

Our commitment

We are committed to ensuring the people, workers, and communities that support our entire value chain are treated with fundamental dignity and respect. We strive to ensure that the products and services we provide are produced in a way that respects human rights.

While it is the duty of governments to protect human rights, Amazon recognizes our responsibility to respect and uphold internationally recognized human rights through the ethical treatment of our workforce and those within our value chain. Guided by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we commit to embedding respect for human rights throughout our business. We continuously evaluate our operations and value chain to identify, assess, and address salient human rights risks; engage key stakeholders; and prioritize key areas where we have the greatest opportunity to have a positive impact on workers and communities. Our approach on human rights is informed by international standards; we respect and support the Core Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We are committed to investing in our employees, the workers who make our products, and the communities in which we operate. These principles outline our approach to human rights across all aspects of our company.

Our approach to human rights is informed by these international standards:

Our workplace

We endeavor to provide safe, inclusive, and respectful workplaces, in both our own operations and those throughout our value chain.

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We strive to be the most safety-centric organization in the world. We provide a clean, safe, and healthy work environment. The health, wellness, and safety of our workers is our number one priority. Everyone has the right to a safe and healthy workplace with appropriate rules and practices for reporting and preventing accidents, injuries, and unsafe conditions, procedures, or behaviors.
We are committed to diversity and inclusion throughout our business. We seek individuals from all backgrounds to join our teams, and we encourage people to bring their authentic, original, and best selves to work.
We are committed to ensuring that all workers are treated equally, and we do not tolerate discrimination based on race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, the presence of any physical, sensory, or mental disabilities, age, political ideology, pregnancy, citizenship, migrant status, veteran status, ethnicity, ancestry, caste, marital or family status, or other legally protected status in hiring and working practices, such as job applications, promotions, job assignments, training, wages, benefits, and termination. Our aim is to ensure employment decisions and actions are based only on business-related considerations—focused solely on an individual’s ability to perform the work, not their personal characteristics. As outlined in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, we do not tolerate discrimination, violent and threatening behavior, or harassment.
We do not tolerate the use of child labor, forced labor, or human trafficking in any form—including slave labor, prison labor, indentured servitude, or bonded labor—in our operations or value chain.
We value worker feedback. We firmly believe it is in our employees’ and the company’s best interests to continue our direct communications, and the best way to effect positive change is for our employees to continue working directly with their managers throughout the company. We respect freedom of association and our employees’ right to join, form, or not to join a labor union or other lawful organization of their own selection, without fear of reprisal, intimidation, or harassment. We provide training to employees on topics covered within the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, including how to submit anonymous complaints to Amazon’s third-party Ethics Hotline. We are committed to providing our employees with appropriate access to grievance mechanisms and remedial action.
Read our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics , opens in a new tab

Our suppliers

We promote safe, inclusive, and respectful workplaces with our third-party suppliers and service providers. We seek suppliers committed to these same principles. Amazon’s Supply Chain Standards set forth requirements governing labor standards and working conditions. We implement this commitment through dedicated programs that communicate our expectations to the third-parties we work with, monitor working conditions where products are made or services provided, implement plans to address issues and make improvements where necessary, and engage with stakeholders working to address specific and systemic issues.

Download Supply Chain Standards Download Supply Chain Standards

How we do this

Integration throughout our business

We expect and encourage everyone in our business to embed these principles into their everyday work and provide employee training to raise awareness on them. We strive to evaluate and understand the impact of each part of our business on human rights, to address and mitigate negative impacts, and to invest in the people behind the products and services we provide.

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Continuous improvement

To ensure we are continuing to hold the highest standards, we continuously review our policies and practices to ensure alignment with these principles and regularly provide updates on progress to senior leadership.

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Collaboration

In support of these efforts, we value ongoing collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders, helping us remain vigilant and aware of the potential impacts—both positive and negative—of our products and services on the rights, interests, and well-being of our employees, customers, and communities around the world.

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Our business

Amazon seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. We are passionate builders guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. We bring these principles to everything we do, including how we approach human rights.

Our operations

Amazon believes the people, workers, and communities who support our business should be treated with fundamental dignity and respect. As of 2023, we employed approximately 1.5 million full-time and part-time workers across the globe. We manage our operations, including the people working in them, in three segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). Our online and physical stores enable hundreds of millions of unique products to be sold by us and by third parties. We source, manufacture, sell, and deliver millions of products to consumers.

Three buildings in Amazon's Seattle headquarters.

Our products

Amazon Consumer Private Brands and Amazon Devices offer our customers products spanning diverse categories including apparel, food and beverage, electronics, and home goods. Amazon’s suppliers are located around the world and produce, manufacture, assemble, or provide goods or services that are sold and delivered to Amazon.

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Third-party sellers

Third parties sell products directly to customers on Amazon.com spanning broad product categories. These orders are either fulfilled by Amazon using our operations or shipped directly by the seller to the customer.

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Fulfillment and logistics

Amazon Fulfillment is where our employees, technology, and innovation come together every day to deliver for our customers. Fulfillment facilities run multiple shifts per day, and employees perform a number of roles—from leading teams to boxing up orders and shipping directly to our customers. We fulfill customer orders in a number of ways using our transportation supply chain. We operate North America and International fulfillment and delivery networks and have co-sourced and outsourced arrangements in certain countries. We also provide digital delivery and offer products in our physical stores as well.

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Amazon Web Services

AWS offers over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Ours is the largest global infrastructure footprint of any provider, and this footprint is constantly increasing. AWS teams around the world are building the future. Our people solve a wide variety of technical challenges, always focusing on the customer. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their technology infrastructure. To learn more, visit AWS.