Protecting human rights

Fortescue is committed to upholding and respecting the human rights of all people including our employees, the communities in which we operate, those who may be impacted by our activities and those within our supply chains.

We conduct business in a manner consistent with the human rights principles encompassed in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the United Nations Global Compact, the Forced Labor Convention and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.  

Our Human Rights Policy and Employee Code of Conduct and Integrity Policy form the foundation documents for human rights protection across Fortescue. Specific policies and guidelines ensure the highest standards are achieved. 

We ensure the protection of human rights including by:

• Actively communicating our approach and expectations to all stakeholders including suppliers
• Engaging with stakeholders to understand the impacts of our activities and working with them to optimise benefits and limit negative impacts
• Undertaking ongoing due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate the adverse impacts of our activities, capturing outputs in our corporate risk register
• Providing access to remedy through effective grievance mechanisms
• Seeking to secure the consent of Traditional Custodians to mineral exploration and development on their traditional lands
• Considering human rights in our sourcing and purchasing decision processes and promoting our expectations via contract clauses
• Participating in engagement sessions related to human rights policy and regulatory development.
  

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Modern Slavery

Fortescue opposes all forms of slavery in its operations and the operations of our suppliers.

We are committed to identifying, assessing and mitigating human rights impacts, providing access to remedy through effective grievance mechanisms, and ensuring continuous improvement to strengthen our actions. We work in collaboration with our suppliers to eradicate modern slavery from our supply chain.  

Key actions undertaken during FY20 include: 

• Revision of our Modern Slavery Strategy, an internal guidance document that outlines the processes and procedures to identify and address the impacts of modern slavery within our company 
• Development and implementation of a supplier risk assessment matrix which rates suppliers against four criteria to identify those at a higher risk of contributing to, or being directly linked to, modern slavery practices 
• Completion of Self-Assessment Questionnaires (SAQ) by all higher risk suppliers
• Undertaking independent audits of two key international suppliers 
• Provision of ongoing modern slavery training for relevant employees
  

This year, Fortescue released our third Modern Slavery Statement, the first required under Australia's Modern Slavery Act 2018. The statement outlines the actions Fortescue is undertaking to ensure modern slavery does not occur in its operations and supply chains.

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