Human Rights

Amazon began working with the Amader Kotha Helpline in 2020. The Amader Kotha Helpline provides workers with a mechanism to report and resolve safety and other concerns in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh. The Helpline was initially established as a project of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety following the Rana Plaza tragedy. In July 2018, the Helpline became an independent initiative available to all garment workers with the support of factories and brands.

In 2019, Amazon began working with amfori, a leading global business association for open and sustainable trade. Amfori brings together over 2,000 retailers, importers, brands, and associations from over 40 countries to drive social performance and improvements across global supply chains.

In 2019, Amazon began engaging with Better Buying, a global initiative that carries out independent research to promote improved purchasing practices, stronger supply chain partnerships, and mutually beneficial sustainability outcomes. The initiative provides retailers, brands, and suppliers with a cloud-based platform to obtain data-driven insights into purchasing-related activities. Better Buying enables suppliers to anonymously rate the purchasing practices of their buyers and works alongside these buyers toward improved practices.

Amazon joined BSR's HERproject, a collaborative initiative that strives to empower low-income women working in global supply chains. Bringing together global brands, their suppliers, and local NGOs, HERproject drives impact for women and business via workplace-based interventions on health, financial inclusion, and gender equality. Since its inception in 2007, HERproject has worked in more than 700 workplaces across 14 countries and has increased the well-being, confidence, and economic potential of more than 800,000 women.

Amazon is a member of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a global nonprofit that works with partners across business, civil society, and government sectors to build a just and sustainable world.

In 2017, Amazon signed the Sustainable Fuel Buyers’ Principles developed by the nonprofit Business for Social Responsibility and its Future of Fuels working group. These principles provide a framework to catalyze the transition to a sustainable road freight transportation system. Amazon was one of 18 companies to sign the Buyer’s Principles, demonstrating our commitment to accelerate the transition to low-carbon commercial transportation solutions.

Amazon also participates in working groups such as the Clean Cargo Working Group (an initiative to reduce the environmental impacts of global goods transportation), and Tech Against Trafficking (a coalition of technology companies collaborating with global experts to help eradicate human trafficking using technology).

In 2019, Amazon began working with Nest, a nonprofit focused on the handworker economy to increase global workforce inclusivity, improve women’s well-being beyond factories, and preserve important cultural traditions around the world. Nest uses radical transparency, data-driven development, and fair market access to connect craftspeople, brands, and consumers in a circular and human-centric value chain.

Amazon joined the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) in 2020. The PPA is a multi-sector initiative of 44 leaders in civil society, minerals supply chain actors, and government that supports projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the surrounding Great Lakes Region of Central Africa that improve the due diligence and governance systems needed for ethical supply chains. The PPA has raised over $2 million in private sector contributions toward on-the-ground activities supporting responsible trade and the conditions enabling it, complementing more than $20 million in parallel funding from USAID for infrastructure and traceability in Congo. With this funding, the PPA has tested tools for enhanced upstream due diligence and reporting, made grants to assess models for collecting and disseminating due diligence data, and supported civil society training and mechanisms to monitor and report fraud and smuggling.

Amazon joined the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), a nonprofit coalition of companies committed to supporting the rights and wellbeing of workers and communities worldwide affected by the global electronics supply chain. The RBA is the world's largest industry coalition dedicated to electronics supply chain responsibility.

Amazon is a member of the Responsible Labor Initiative (RLI), a multi-industry, multi-stakeholder initiative run by the Responsible Business Alliance. The RLI is focused on ensuring that the rights of workers vulnerable to forced labor in global supply chains are consistently respected and promoted.

Amazon is a member of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex), a global nonprofit organization that provides manufacturers and retailers a platform to manage responsible sourcing data and monitor continuous improvement across their supply chains.

Amazon joined the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), an industry alliance on sustainable production for apparel, footwear, and textiles. The Coalition uses the Higg Index, a standardized value chain measurement suite of tools for all industry participants. These tools measure environmental and social labor impacts across the value chain. With this data, the industry can address inefficiencies, improve sustainability performance, and achieve the environmental and social transparency consumers are demanding.

Amazon joined the steering committee of Tech Against Trafficking (TAT), an initiative of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). TAT is a coalition of technology companies collaborating with global experts to help eradicate human trafficking using technology. TAT works with civil society, law enforcement, academia, technologists, and survivors to advance and scale the use of technology to prevent, disrupt, and reduce human trafficking and increase and expand survivors’ access to resources.