Today we are excited to announce the publication of our Groupwide Human Rights Policy as part of the progress we are making in our ESG roadmap and our recognition of the role we play as a responsible corporate citizen.
Whilst human rights violations may seem far removed from the world of European tech and VC, Amnesty International’s 2021 report How leading venture capital firms ignore human rights when investing in technology brought into stark focus some of the supply chain risks neglected by the VC industry to date. We endorse Amnesty’s conclusions on the role that VC can and should play within the wider business eco-system in implementing robust human rights due diligence that is aligned with international standards.
Our Human Rights Policy sets out how human rights issues are relevant to our own business and the business of our portfolio companies and outlines the key impact areas through which we can ensure the respect and promotion of human rights. We aim to identify, address and prevent negative impacts as well as enhance our positive impact in this space by:
• Integrating human rights into our risk management processes
• Assessing the human rights impact and risks of our investments as part of our due diligence
• Providing human rights training for our employees no less than once every two years
• Encouraging employees and suppliers to report human rights concerns or violations
• Regularly reviewing and updating our approach to human rights
• Embedding our commitment to human rights into policies and procedures and seeking out best-in-class transparency and disclosure
We believe that effective governance is a critical element of our ESG strategy and forms the foundation of positive change across environmental and social issues. We continue to be committed to upholding Policies such as these in our aim to ensure accountability, transparency and effective leadership, throughout our business operations.
