Human Rights Commitment

We believe it is important to act as a role model for our industry and society at large. We are therefore committed to promote an ethical culture where our employees and business partners do the right things the right way.

Lack of respect for universal human and labour rights are not acceptable since this will have negative impact on employees, business partners, our reputation, and may have unacceptable financial consequences.

We are committed to safeguarding human rights across our businesses, irrespective of the countries in which they operate. In accordance with our governing elements, we expect all our entities and supply chain partners to comply with the same standards regarding human rights.  

We support and respect the internationally recognised UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Standards (ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work) and prohibit any form of modern slavery. This includes, but is not limited to, human trafficking, forced labour, exploitative working conditions and practices, slavery, and child labour.  

With entities, employees, and operations around the world, we recognise that our activities may influence and impact the human rights of our stakeholders. Where local laws differ from or conflict with international human rights standards, we will always endeavour to honour the principles of internationally recognised human rights without violating local laws and regulations. We are committed to understanding these impacts and taking actions to reduce any negative aspects and enhance our positive impacts. 

Our commitment is implemented through our human rights due diligence process, guided by the United Nations Global Compact and Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. We assess our actual and potential human rights impacts, integrate and act upon the findings, monitor progress, track responses, and communicate how impacts are addressed. This is an ongoing process, and we will continually improve our approach.  We will report publicly on key performance indicators within our annual ESG report. 

The human rights that are most relevant to our business include:  

  • Providing safe, healthy, and decent working conditions free from bullying and harassment.  
  • Treating people working for us fairly and without discrimination based on race, colour, religion, gender, age, nationality, sexual orientation, disability, or any status protected by law. We help our employees achieve their full potential through career management efforts, performance evaluations, and training and development. 
  • Promoting decent and fair employment conditions including wages and benefits, and work/life balance through reasonable working and rest hours.  
  • Opposing all forms of modern slavery including human trafficking and forced labour as well as child labour in our value chain. 
  • Respecting employees’ rights to form and/or join trade unions and collective bargaining.  
  • Upholding the right to privacy of those who entrust us with their personal information. 

 

We require everyone working in our entities or on our behalf to comply with this commitment. We also expect suppliers to comply with this commitment, and we actively seek to work with third parties who support our approach and standards in this area.   

We commit to undertake ongoing due diligence within our entities to identify and address any actual or potential adverse impacts with which we or our suppliers may be involved (whether directly or indirectly). Stakeholders may raise concerns regarding our human rights impacts by using the whistle-blower channel available on our website.   

If the group through its actions directly cause or contribute to harmful human rights impacts, the group will promote access to and/or provide fair remediation.  Stakeholders may also request information regarding our human rights impacts by email: humanrights@wilhelmsen.com 

We will communicate our commitment to all stakeholders and undertake periodic review to ensure continued relevance and drive continuous improvement.