Advancing Human Rights
We believe everyone should be treated with fundamental dignity and respect, and provided an equal opportunity to thrive. We’re committed to ensuring this for all the people connected to our business—including our employees, people who work in our supply chain, customers, and people who live in the communities where we operate.
We are embedding respect for human rights throughout our business activities and relationships, and we work to engage with partners and suppliers that are also committed to respecting human and labor rights.
Just as we are committed to promoting the rights of our employees, we are committed to working with our suppliers to embed respect for human rights in their operations and supply chains and to help us further our goal to support the fundamental dignity of everyone we work with.
Our human rights strategy is informed by leading international standards and frameworks developed by the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). We are committed to respecting and supporting the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Core Conventions of the ILO, and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
Our strategy to deliver on these commitments is based on the UNGPs and has five pillars:
Developing and Maintaining Strong Policies and Standards
Our efforts are anchored in policies that apply across our business. We regularly review our strategy, principles, and supporting policies to identify opportunities for improvement. By engaging external stakeholders and monitoring evolving international and human rights standards, regulations, and industry best practices, we’re able to effectively and continuously improve our own policies and standards to better support our employees and suppliers.
Our Global Human Rights Principles demonstrate our commitment to respecting human rights and the dignity of people connected to our business around the world.
Our Supply Chain Standards detail our requirements of and expectations for supplies. They apply to all suppliers of goods and services for Amazon and are grounded in principles of inclusivity, continuous improvement, and supply chain accountability. We update these standards at least every three years, working with external stakeholders to align requirements with current best practices and regulatory standards, and we make them publicly available in 21 languages and dialects.
Embedding Human Rights Into Our Business Operations and Decision-Making
As a global company, we recognize the responsibility and opportunity we have to raise awareness among our employees on human rights issues. We have a central team that works across the company to conduct human rights due diligence and integrate human rights considerations into business decisions, and we strive to embed our human rights principles in employees’ every day work by offering training curricula.
In 2023, we launched an online training, available to all Amazon employees, intended to raise awareness on the importance of the company’s commitment to human rights. We also offer our employees training tailored to some of Amazon’s salient human rights risks. For example, in 2023, we updated our Forced Labor Awareness training, which is available to employees in seven languages and is customized for regional risks. The training builds awareness of the signs of potential cases of forced labor in the workplace and how to report concerns to appropriate authorities. Updates enhance learners’ experience and direct them to our most current internal resources.
We introduced “The Five Principles of Responsible Purchasing” in 2023, to strengthen our sourcing and procurement teams’ understanding of how purchasing practices can drive respect for human rights in our supply chain. This online training, developed by the Better Buying Institute, explains how our daily business operations can help suppliers improve factory working conditions and environmental performance.
Assessing, Prioritizing, and Addressing Risk
We’re committed to assessing, prioritizing, and addressing adverse human rights impacts connected to our business, and we continuously work to improve our approach.
Within Amazon’s own operations, we deploy a variety of mechanisms to assess and respond to risks specific to Amazon businesses, including the sectors and the countries where we operate. We have a centralized team of experts who work across the company to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence. With support from this team, Amazon businesses work toward integrating our human rights principles into their operations and business relationships by conducting human rights risk assessments and remedying identified issues.
In our supply chain, we assess and respond to risk by leveraging internal and external data and guidance from stakeholders, including industry experts, civil society groups, and nongovernmental organizations. We engage directly with suppliers and their workers, and conduct independent audits to verify compliance with our Supply Chain Standards. We work with suppliers on appropriate remediation measures and offer partnerships and programs to help them address risks and invest in worker well-being.
We understand that as our supply chain evolves, expanding into new geographies and areas of business, so too do the risks we face. We’re committed to growing and adapting our work to meet these challenges—and helping others do so as well.
Engaging With Stakeholders
Human rights risks are systemic and complex, and addressing them requires us to reach well outside of our own operations. Engagement with external stakeholders is essential to identifying positive outcomes for people across our business and key to our human rights due diligence approach.
We collaborate with credible, knowledgeable, and innovative partners organizations around the world who share our vision. Together, we examine assessment findings, help remediate our salient human rights risks, and advance effective solutions that improve working conditions for people throughout our supply chain. We also rely on experts and affected rights-holders to inform our approach and validate our efforts.
Improving Access to Effective Grievance Mechanisms and Remediation Procedures
By listening to the people connected to our business, we can better understand their experiences and concerns, address risks they face, remedy issues, and ultimately improve our workplace experience. Our grievance policies and practices are designed to promote respect for the rights of freedom of association and collective bargaining and comply with the legal requirements of the countries where we operate.
We empower and encourage all our employees to share their concerns and communicate openly and candidly with us through various channels, including grievance mechanisms and avenues for effective two-way dialogue with leadership. We have processes in place to promptly review and address employee suggestions, concerns, and grievances—making improvements and providing remedies in response.
Beyond our own employees, we expect every supplier in our supply chain to provide their workers access to effective grievance mechanisms. We work with our suppliers to increase their capacity to develop these mechanisms, helping them create channels to hear directly from workers about their experiences and support the resolution of issues they report.
Identifying and prioritizing the most salient risks connected to Amazon operations and business relationships is central to our human rights due diligence practices. We completed an enterprise-wide human rights saliency assessment in 2020. Through this assessment, we identified nine salient human rights risks across our operations and business relationships.
Each year, we expand on our commitment to conduct business-specific human rights assessments, ensuring we are always raising the bar on how we evaluate and respond to risks across our operations and supply chain. Our salient human rights risks:
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Safe and Healthy Working Conditions
- Modern Slavery and Forced Labor
- Fair Wages and Hours
- Freedom of Association
- Future of Work
- Right to Privacy
- Product Safety and Security
- Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
We use human rights assessment methodologies to identify and mitigate human rights risks. These assessments help us understand causes of systemic issues, enhance ongoing engagement with critical stakeholders, implement the correct risk-based mitigation measures, and refine strategies for ongoing risk management across our supply chain.
We recognize that many human rights risks are complex issues with widespread social impacts. Addressing these risks requires cross-industry engagement to find effective solutions. We collaborate with credible, knowledgeable, and innovative industry partners around the world who share our vision. Learn more about our partners by exploring the logos below.
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Amader KothaAmazon partners with the Amader Kotha Helpline to provide workers in the ready-made garment sector in Bangladesh with a platform to voice their concerns related to labor, safety, and other issues. Through the helpline, Amazon gains direct feedback from workers in our supply chain to help us improve working conditions. -
amforiAmazon works with amfori, a leading global business association for open and sustainable trade. Amfori brings together over 2,400 retailers, importers, brands, and associations from over 40 countries to drive social performance and improvements across global supply chains. We accept amfori’s Business Social Compliance Initiative (amfori BSCI) audits as part of our supplier due diligence program. -
Article OneWe partner with business and human rights consultancy Article One to conduct saliency and human rights impact assessments. We also work with Article One to embed human rights due diligence throughout our complex, global business. -
Better Buying InstituteAmazon partners with Better Buying, a leading global initiative committed to leveraging supplier data to help drive lasting improvements in global supply chains. Better Buying’s cloud-based platform enables suppliers to anonymously rate the purchasing practices of their buyers and identify which practices the buyer needs to improve. Brands and retailers can then use these data-driven insights to partner with their suppliers to continuously improve, measure progress year over year, and achieve mutually beneficial sustainability outcomes. -
Better CottonAmazon is a member of Better Cotton to support our transition to sourcing more sustainable cotton within Amazon-owned Private Brand apparel products. -
BSRAmazon is a member of BSR, a sustainable business network and consultancy focused on creating a world in which all people can thrive on a healthy planet. We participate in various BSR collaborative initiatives, including Business Alliance to Scale Climate Solutions, Tech Against Trafficking, Global Business Coalition Against Trafficking, Sustainable Production Alliance, HERproject and the Human Rights Working Group. -
BSR HERprojectAmazon partners with BSR’s HERproject, a collaborative initiative that strives to empower low-income women working in global supply chains. Through our participation in HERproject, we help increase the well-being, confidence, and economic potential of women and men in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and India. -
International Center for Research on Women AdvisorsAmazon works with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on a multi-year strategy to advance gender equity across global supply chains. Amazon is also part of ICRW’s Gender Equity Worker Engagement Group (GEWEG) to co-finance harmonized, gender-responsive worker voice and employee engagement tools, including a comprehensive set of e-learning modules for suppliers on gender equity. The GEWEG initiative helps member companies understand and address challenges women face and advance their well-being across supply chains. -
Issara InstituteIssara Institute is an independent non-profit organization based in Asia and the U.S. tackling issues of human trafficking and forced labor through worker voice, partnership, and innovation. Through Issara’s Strategic Partners Program, Amazon is advancing our support and commitments to workers, suppliers, and recruitment agencies in our own supply chain and the broader ecosystem. -
NestAmazon partners with Nest, a non-profit organization supporting the growth and development of the global artisan sector to build a world of greater gender equity and economic inclusion. Through their Ethical Handcraft program, which protects the rights of handworkers in the informal sector, and a host of artisan and maker business development programs, Nest is bringing radical transparency and opportunity to the global handworker economy. Amazon serves on the Nest Coalition. -
PolarisIn the U.S., Amazon supports Polaris, a nonprofit leading social justice movement working to address sex and labor trafficking. AWS delivers financial and technical support to enhance Polaris’s data collection and improve trafficking identification and prevention. -
Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals TradeAmazon joined the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) in 2020 and became a member of the PPA’s Governance Committee in 2022. The PPA is a multi-stakeholder initiative working to promote ethically and economically sound minerals supply chains, due diligence systems, and local governance systems that uphold human rights and labor rights, support environmental responsibility, eliminate links to armed conflict and corruption, and maximize benefits to the communities where minerals are produced. -
Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value ChainsAmazon made a $1 million contribution to the Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains. The Resilience Fund pools corporate investments to drive local, women-led solutions to some of the toughest problems facing women in global value chains. The Resilience Fund was established by BSR, the UN Foundation, and Women Win, in partnership with corporate investors. It aims to raise $10 million to make strategic, long-term investments in women’s economic resilience, health, and well-being and has committed more than $2.5 million in grants to organizations in South and Southeast Asia. -
Responsible Business AllianceAmazon is a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), a nonprofit coalition of companies committed to supporting the rights and well-being of workers and communities worldwide affected by global supply chains. -
Responsible Labor InitiativeAmazon is a member of the Responsible Labor Initiative, a multi-industry, multi-stakeholder initiative hosted by the RBA focused on ensuring that the rights of workers vulnerable to forced labor in global supply chains are consistently respected and promoted. -
Responsible Minerals InitiativeAmazon is a member of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), an initiative of the RBA, which provides companies with tools and resources to make sourcing decisions that improve regulatory compliance and support responsible sourcing globally. We participate in RMI working groups devoted to smelter engagement. -
SedexAmazon is a member of Sedex, a global membership organization and solutions provider that empowers companies to build responsible supply chains. Sedex provides businesses with a comprehensive data platform, practical tools, and resources to operate ethically, source responsibly, and work with their suppliers to create fair working conditions for the people who make their products and services. We accept Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audits (SMETA) as part of our Responsible Sourcing Program. -
StolenYouthAmazon partners with StolenYouth, a Seattle-based organization with the mission to end child sex trafficking in the state of Washington through prevention, connecting trafficked youth to resources and services, and empowering survivors along their path to recovery and a promising future. We support StolenYouth by providing both financial support and goods donations. -
Sustainable Apparel CoalitionAmazon is part of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a global multi-stakeholder nonprofit alliance for the consumer goods industry. It’s made up of more than 250 leading brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits, NGOs, and academic institutions in apparel, footwear, and textiles working to reduce environmental impact and promote social justice throughout the global value chain. -
Tech Against TraffickingTech Against Trafficking is a coalition of companies collaborating with global experts to help eradicate human trafficking using technology. Amazon is a member of the Tech Against Trafficking steering committee and has leveraged the expertise and resources of AWS to help scale tech solutions across the anti-trafficking field. -
The Centre for Child Rights and BusinessAmazon is a member of the Centre for Child Rights and Business (The Centre). In 2021, we committed to support the Centre’s Joint Action Pledge to strengthen the protection of children’s rights and accelerate action to address child labor in global supply chains. The Centre supports businesses to deliver improvements within their supply chains that not only benefit workers, families, and children, but also deliver positive business outcomes. -
The Copper MarkAmazon is an official partner of The Copper Mark, which oversees the world’s only comprehensive social and environmental assurance program for the copper industry. -
ThornThorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse and leverages AWS machine learning tools in their Spotlight and Safer products. Safer is also made available to AWS customers to enable them to identify and address potential child sexual abuse material in their own services and resources. -
Truckers Against TraffickingAmazon is an official corporate sponsor of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), an organization that seeks to educate, equip, and mobilize members of the transportation and energy industries to combat human trafficking. -
UlulaAmazon partners with Ulula to amplify worker and community voices and create more responsible supply chains. We help connect our suppliers to Ulula’s digital platform to enable workers to anonymously report concerns and seek resolution from factory management. Ulula is available to workers across Cambodia, China, India, and Pakistan. -
USAID - Climate Gender Equity FundIn 2022, we made a $53 million commitment to address these gender inequities. This includes a $50 million investment through The Climate Pledge Fund’s new Female Founder Initiative to invest in women-founded and -led climate tech companies. The additional $3 million will be delivered through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Climate Gender Equity Fund. Amazon will work with The Climate Pledge signatories and other companies to encourage additional support for, and corporate investment in, this new fund. -
United States Council for International BusinessAmazon is a member of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB). USCIB represents American business on the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization and engages with policymakers to support policies that promote respect for human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
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Modern Slavery StatementAmazon does not tolerate the use of child labor, forced labor, or human trafficking in any form. Our Modern Slavery Statement describes our policies, activities, and efforts to identify and prevent the risk of all forms of modern slavery in our operations and business relationships.
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Supply Chain StandardsOur 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.
If you have a concern about a human rights or environmental issue related to Amazon’s business or supply chains, we strongly encourage you to use this webform to report your concern directly to us. The webform can be viewed in various languages by selecting the desired language at the top of the page.
