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.

Progress

Whole Foods Market completed a human rights due diligence management systems assessment, which will inform a wider human rights saliency assessment of Amazon’s global grocery business in 2024

Saliency assessment Human rights saliency assessment conducted for Amazon Private Brands to improve our understanding of human rights risks in the supply chain and how to address them through strategic actions and risk management plans

New training introduced to help our sourcing and procurement teams understand how their efforts can improve supplier working conditions and environmental performance

Our approach

We’re 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’re committed to promoting the rights of our employees, we’re 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’re 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 & standards
Embedding human rights into our business operations & decision-making
Assessing, prioritizing, & addressing risk
Engaging with stakeholders
Improving access to effective grievance mechanisms & remediation procedures

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’ everyday work by offering training curricula.
  
  In 2023, we launched an online training, available to all our 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 our 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, our 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.

Global Human Rights Principles

From the associates in our fulfillment centers, to the drivers delivering packages to our customers, to the factory workers making the products we sell—people are critical to our mission of being Earth’s most customer-centric company. Our Human Rights Principles demonstrate our commitment to respecting fundamental human rights and the dignity of people connected to our business around the world.

Explore Global Human Rights Principles

Our salient human rights risks

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’re 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 & inclusion
Safe & healthy working conditions
Modern slavery & forced labor
Fair wages & hours
Freedom of association
Future of work
Right to privacy
Product safety & security
Social, economic & environmental justice

Human rights impact assessments

We use human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) to assess and address risks connected to our operations and business relationships. HRIAs 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.

Twitch

In 2022, Twitch conducted its first HRIA in partnership with Amazon’s central Human Rights team and consulting firm BSR. Twitch is an Amazon subsidiary that provides interactive live-streaming services for content spanning gaming, entertainment, sports, music, and more. The HRIA identified the most salient human rights risks and opportunities related to Twitch’s services, including content governance and online safety, incorporating a focus on vulnerable groups.

Read assessment

Amazon devices

In 2020, we conducted our first HRIA on the raw and recovered materials supply chain for Amazon-branded digital devices. Using the UNGPs as a framework to guide the assessment, the HRIA results indicated we’re directly linked to potential risks for Tier 1–2 manufacturing and reverse logistics suppliers.

Read assessment

A purple Amazon echo sitting on a counter.

Human rights partnerships

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.

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Human rights & environmental complaints procedure

If you have a concern about a human rights or environmental issue related to our 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.

Learn more

Advancing human rights

Progress

Our approach

Global Human Rights Principles

Our salient human rights risks

Human rights impact assessments

Twitch

Amazon devices

Human rights partnerships

Amader Kotha

Amfori

Article One

Better Buying Institute

Better Cotton

BSR

BSR HERproject

International Center for Research on Women Advisors

Issara Institute

Nest

Polaris

Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade

Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains

Responsible Business Alliance

Responsible Labor Initiative

Responsible Minerals Initiative

Sedex

StolenYouth

Sustainable Apparel Coalition

Tech Against Trafficking

The Centre for Child Rights and Business

The Copper Mark

Thorn

Truckers Against Trafficking

Ulula

USAID - Climate Gender Equity Fund

U.S. Council for International Business

Related downloads

Supply Chain Standards

Modern Slavery Statement

Human rights & environmental complaints procedure

Advancing human rights

Progress

Our approach

Our five pillars

Developing and maintaining strong policies and standards

Embedding human rights into our business operations and decision-making

Assessing, prioritizing, and addressing risk

Engaging with stakeholders

Improving access to effective grievance mechanisms and remediation procedures

Global Human Rights Principles

Our salient human rights risks

Human rights impact assessments

Twitch

Amazon devices

Human rights partnerships

Amader Kotha

Amfori

Article One

Better Buying Institute

Better Cotton

BSR

BSR HERproject

International Center for Research on Women Advisors

Issara Institute

Nest

Polaris

Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade

Resilience Fund for Women in Global Value Chains

Responsible Business Alliance

Responsible Labor Initiative

Responsible Minerals Initiative

Sedex

StolenYouth

Sustainable Apparel Coalition

Tech Against Trafficking

The Centre for Child Rights and Business

The Copper Mark

Thorn

Truckers Against Trafficking

Ulula

USAID - Climate Gender Equity Fund

U.S. Council for International Business

Related downloads

Supply Chain Standards

Modern Slavery Statement

Human rights & environmental complaints procedure