Human Rights
Amazon is committed to ensuring the people and communities that support our entire value chain are treated with fundamental dignity and respect, and we strive to ensure the products and services we provide are produced in a way that respects internationally recognized human rights.
Human Rights
Human Rights Strategy
Our approach is informed by international standards: we respect and support the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Core Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Our human rights strategy has four pillars:
Our human rights strategy has four pillars:
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Strong Policies -
Embedding Human Rights Into Our Business -
Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement -
Mechanisms to Address Risk
Strong Policies
Our 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 2019, we codified our commitment to human rights in Amazon’s Global Human Rights Principles, which underline the importance we place on embedding respect for human rights throughout our business.
We are committed to consistently evolving and improving our approach. We continuously review our policies and, at least every other year, conduct an in-depth benchmarking of our policies against international standards and evolving industry best practices to identify areas for update and improvement.
We are committed to consistently evolving and improving our approach. We continuously review our policies and, at least every other year, conduct an in-depth benchmarking of our policies against international standards and evolving industry best practices to identify areas for update and improvement.
Amazon Policies and Standards
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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. 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.
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Our Supply Chain Standards detail the requirements and expectations for suppliers in our supply chain and are grounded in principles of inclusivity, continuous improvement, and supply chain accountability. We engage with suppliers that are committed to these same principles; suppliers commit to these standards as a condition of doing business with us.
We embed human rights considerations into decision-making across the company, and into our policy and governance framework. We are also building an employee training and engagement program to raise awareness of important human rights topics across the company.
Combating Forced Labor
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Modern Slavery StatementAmazon does 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.
Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement
We are committed to driving industry-wide best practices in human rights due diligence through increased disclosures about our approach and expanding our stakeholder engagement.
In 2019, we published our first interactive supplier map that provides details on suppliers of Amazon-branded apparel, consumer electronics, and home goods products. We expanded the map in 2020 to include additional suppliers and product categories, and to include information on capacity building programs completed by individual suppliers. In 2020, we disclosed additional information about our supplier assessment process and audit results, about our approach to worker engagement, and about the goals we have set for ourselves on such topics as forced labor training and women’s empowerment. To continue to expand our disclosures and transparency on these issues, we report against the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Reporting Framework.
Learn more about our global supply chain.
The facilities listed produce Amazon-branded products, consisting of Amazon Private Brands and Devices. This list was last updated in September 2020 and is subject to change; updates will be provided periodically. Click here to access a CSV list of our suppliers.
Engagement with external stakeholders is key to our human rights due diligence approach. We rely on experts and affected rights holders to inform our approach and ensure our efforts have the intended impact. Through these partnerships we access invaluable expert input to our work, helping us achieve greater impact on working conditions around the world.
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PreviousNextAmader Kotha
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. -
PreviousNextAmfori
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. -
PreviousNextBetter Buying
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. -
PreviousNextBSR HERproject
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. -
PreviousNextBusiness for Social Responsibility
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. Amazon participates in working groups such as Future of Fuels (a collaboration with a mission to drive a sustainable transition to low-carbon commercial road freight), 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). -
PreviousNextNest
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. -
PreviousNextPublic-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade
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. -
PreviousNextResponsible Business Alliance
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. -
PreviousNextResponsible Labor Initiative
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. -
PreviousNextSupplier Ethical Data Exchange
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. -
PreviousNextSustainable Apparel Coalition
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. -
PreviousNextTech Against Trafficking
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.
Mechanisms to Address Risk
We are committed to identifying, preventing, and mitigating adverse human rights impacts, and are continuously working to improve our approach.
- Supply ChainIn our supply chain, we assess and respond to risk by leveraging internal and external data, and guidance from external stakeholders including industry experts, civil society groups, and non-governmental organizations. We use independent auditors to verify compliance with our Supply Chain Standards though regular on-site inspections and confidential worker interviews. Learn more about our Responsible Sourcing Program.
We also recognize that audits alone are insufficient to drive long-term change across industries. We are exploring new ways to encourage improvement in worker protections, including supplier capacity building programs, worker trainings, and collaborations with other brands and civil society. Learn more about our investments in capacity building programs across five key commitment areas: Safe Workplaces, Freely Chosen Employment, Empowering Women, Fair Wages, and Environmental Protection. - OperationsWithin our own operations, we have teams dedicated to assessing and addressing risk to our employees. Those teams focus on employee engagement and establishing open communication with our employees around the world, providing them with meaningful grievance mechanisms and avenues for dialogue with leadership. Learn more about our approach to Employee Engagement.
We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, where every employee feels comfortable sharing their unique perspectives and is supported in growing their career. Learn more about our efforts on Global Diversity and Inclusion.
And, we are obsessed with keeping our employees safe while on the job. We are working relentlessly to innovate and create new industry benchmarks for health and safety. Learn more about our investments in Workplace Safety. - Continuous ImprovementWe know we have more to do—we are committed to continuously widening our lens to better understand the potential human rights impacts of our business. In 2020, we are partnering with sustainability and human rights consulting firm Article One Advisors to identify salient human rights risks across our business. The UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework recommends this systematic review of risks as a way to prioritize a company’s work on human rights. The results will help us prioritize and design human rights impact assessments—deep dives on specific products, regions, or risk areas, which we will communicate to customers and stakeholders.
Our goals:- Launch an assessment of salient human rights risks by the end of 2020.
- Execute our first human rights impact assessment by the end of 2020.
UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
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UNGP Reporting Framework IndexIn 2020, we disclosed additional information about our supplier assessment process and audit results, about our approach to worker engagement, and about the goals we have set for ourselves on such topics as forced labor training and women’s empowerment. To continue to expand our disclosures and transparency on these issues, we report against the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) Reporting Framework.
Latest News
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