Embedding respect for human rights
in our operations
We are committed to respecting and protecting internationally recognised human rights – understood, at a minimum, as those expressed in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the ILO’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. These include universal human rights such as freedom of thought, opinion, expression, religion and the right to assemble peacefully, as well as freedom from any discrimination based on gender, age, ethnicity, race, nationality, family ties, religion, political opinion, trade union affiliation, disability, sexual orientation or other similar aspects.
Our human rights work is based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and guided by our Code of Conduct and its associated policies, rules and guidelines. We expect a similar commitment from our suppliers and third parties, as defined in our Supplier and Third-Party Code.
We recognise the critical role of living wage and decent work in promoting respect for human rights and tackling inequality. We renewed our 2030 social responsibility targets in 2021 with strengthened commitments to ensure fair, equitable and competitive rewarding for employees. We introduced new targets, for example, for living wage and gender pay equity. All our targets are founded on the principle of respect for human rights.
In 2022, we joined the UN Global Compact's Think Lab on Living Wage which aims to build on, leverage and amplify existing work, expertise and partnerships on living wage.
Governance
Compliance is an integral part of UPM’s responsibility and an important asset in our decision-making, management and operations. The main emphasis of UPM’s corporate compliance system is on preventive actions, which are based on risk assessments conducted in all businesses and operations in accordance with the annual risk management cycle. Human rights related issues are regularly reported to our Audit Committee and the Board of Directors.
In our daily operations the accountability for continuous human rights due diligence lies with our businesses. UPM businesses utilise corporate expertise from Responsibility, HR, OHS, Internal audit, Sourcing and Procurement, and Compliance teams to guide and support their work. Our Responsibility team coordinates human rights related work globally to identify emerging human rights issues and develops tools and action plans to identify and address our human rights issues. This includes capacity building within our organisation and collaborating with others to drive progress.
It is vital to have in place policies that clearly define our human rights related requirements and expectations, both for our own operations as well as our business partners. Should any of our stakeholders, including our own employees, have concerns or suspect any misconduct or abuse of human rights, they are encouraged to use the UPM Report Misconduct channel. This channel is confidential and anonymous.
The summary of our human rights responsibility work provides an overview of human rights due diligence practices at UPM. It highlights the steps we have taken and the lessons we have learned and opens up the development needs we see ahead.
We believe in capacity
building and collaboration
An integral part of our approach to preventing and addressing human rights risks is internal capacity building and collaborative action. We focus on creating awareness, engagement and effective implementation of human rights policies across all our businesses. Our corporate compliance model ensures that human rights topics are embedded into everyday work in all our businesses and that best practices are shared.
As human rights related challenges are often systemic, we are also active in various collaboration forums, such as UN Global Compact and its action platforms, Together for Sustainability (TfS) initiative and the Business Learning Program by Shift, the leading centre of expertise in UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
