在Godrej公司推行强有力的人权政策

这个采访是WBCSD的深度系列的一部分 Global Agribusiness Action on Equitable Livelihoods Project (GAA-EL) featuring perspectives from human rights experts in the NGO sector, 政府, WBCSD成员公司, 和更多的. 该系列节目旨在提高人们对这些挑战的认识, 整个行业的机遇和经验教训. GAA-EL项目与其成员一起努力改进 农业供应链中的人权表现, 例如，发布介绍性工具包, and the release of a train-the-trainer pack for internal company implementation. 

WBCSD: What is your current role and experience working on human rights policy and practice with Godrej Group? 

Divecha我是Gayatri Divecha, I head Sustainability and Social Impact for Godrej Group We’re a diversified conglomerate, 对农业感兴趣, 消费产品, 房地产, 化学物质, 以及住房融资. 我们对正规博彩十大网站排名和社会影响的承诺叫做 好 & 绿色, 我们的正规博彩十大网站是创造一个更环保的, inclusive and equitable world for 20 million people in our extended communities. 好 & 绿色 is a corporate function that drives sustainability and social impact for all six Group companies (Godrej Industries Limited, 高瑞杰消费品有限公司, 高德瑞农业有限公司, 高卓地产有限公司, Godrej基金管理公司, 及Godrej Housing Finance). We work closely with businesses and functions to improve our environmental and social performance through policies, 项目, 和信息披露, 这包括人权.  

WBCSD: How does Godrej Group approach 人权政策 across its value chains, 包括Godrej Agrovet?  

Divecha我们集团已有124年的历史, and we realize that human rights can’t just live within people’s understandings, especially as we are multi-national in addition to being spread across 印度. Every year there are new generations of Godrejites and our businesses are expanding and growing. We needed to codify our 人权政策 into a standard that is understandable by all. 因此几年前我们构造了a 人权政策 这适用于我们集团的所有公司, 在公司内部阐述我们对人权的定义. 上面说我们无意造成伤害, 当基于种姓的人受到伤害时, 强迫劳动, 性别, 等.我们的政策是零容忍. Any transgression of these standards that are laid out in the policy will result in severe disciplinary action, 包括终止雇佣关系等等. 

WBCSD: How did you communicate this streamlined policy to employees and train staff appropriately?  

Divecha: We made it very clear to all teams what we expected when we rolled out the policy, and the respective businesses’ HR teams are custodians of this policy. 我们最初制定政策的时候, they were widely cascaded through companies and disseminated across the human resources teams within our various zones and individual companies. In addition, we communicated that our suppliers must uphold these principles as well. 当前的ly, new employees learn about the policy as a part of their onboarding procedures.   

WBCSD: Developing and launching a 人权政策 is just one part of the challenge. 你如何去实现它?  

Divecha: We align with local labor laws in all countries in which we work, 对AgroVet公司来说也是如此, 这是在印度. Forced farm labor is one of the most significant human rights issues in the agriculture sector in 印度, 例如, 所以这是我们有意研究的一个方面. Our internal audit team tracks and manages instances of human rights abuse, 而且有一个补救机制. 如果我们的政策没有被采纳, 它通过管理结构和董事会进行标记.  

此外还有审核和管理程序, Godrej invests in reducing the risk of human rights abuses through its community-based livelihoods 项目. 在Nashik, 印度, 在MaxiMilk工厂, 例如, Godrej has built market linkages for farmers in their communities producing corn and wheat and has hired extension officers to train farmers on good agricultural practices and provide quality inputs. This boosts incomes and in turn prevents issues such as child labor at the farm-level.   

大流行期间, our company purchased and offered COVID-19 vaccinations for all our employees and their communities, to ensure they were able to work in a healthy and safe environment.  

Programs like these help to cultivate a relationship of trust between the company and its farmers and open lines of communication such that if there is something amiss, 农民更有可能放心地报告.  

WBCSD: What are some of the challenges of implementing Godrej Group’s 人权政策?  

Divecha: When it comes to auditing and addressing human rights issues across our supplier base, 这对Agrovet公司来说更具挑战性. Our large suppliers and vendors go through rigorous due diligence and assessments in which all these human rights policies and practices are checked. 我们能有一个更详细的方法来评估供应商吗? 绝对. 我们能否更进一步，在这方面建设能力? 再次,绝对. One of our largest businesses within Agrovet is manufacturing animal feed, and most of the raw materials and inputs required are agricultural commodities like corn and wheat. I am not sure how traceable human rights performance is for these suppliers of these inputs – are we tracing where they are getting their inputs from, 比如他们的产品是由小农生产的?  这是我们今年想要做的事情. It’s not just about stakeholders appreciating it; it’s because we fundamentally believe it’s the right thing to do, 对人有益的东西对企业也有益. 因此，我们将在未来几个月关注这个问题.  

关于促进公平生计的全球农业综合企业行动 

The Global Agribusiness Action on Equitable Livelihoods (GAA-EL) project, as a part of WBCSD’s overall leadership on the equity and livelihoods agenda, works with companies across the value chain to generate strong business value as well as social impact through 1) improving access to markets for smallholders and agri-SMEs; 2) strengthening 人权政策 and practice; and 3) promoting inclusive innovation and technology.