Iluka maintains a Human Rights Policy, which includes an overarching commitment to align business activities with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. This includes commitments relating to labour and working conditions and stakeholder consultation, as well as meeting international standards relating to involuntary resettlement and security. The Human Rights Policy also sets out Iluka’s commitment to the recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples, respecting their culture and acknowledging their connections to lands and waters.
While many aspects of the protection of human rights are already covered in existing Iluka policies and practices, the Human Rights Policy is supported by a work programme that translates our commitments into actions. In 2019 we commenced an in-house human rights training programme, which will be delivered globally in 2020.
The Human Rights Policy is also applicable to suppliers, and a key part of the human rights work programme is our preparation for meeting Australia’s new modern slavery requirements, under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth).
Iluka has developed an internal, cross-functional working group to identify the risks of modern slavery practices in our operations and supply chains and take action to assess and address those risks. Progress to date has focused on the mapping of our supply chain, reviewing our procurement processes and developing capability within our teams to identify potential human rights breaches. Iluka Group contracting documents are being updated to reflect our human rights commitments and expectations. including providing us the right to audit our suppliers to ensure they comply with these obligations. We have also commenced a vendor screening process that includes use of a standard industry questionnaire, developed collaboratively by a number of Australian resource companies.
Given the complexity and size of our supply chain, this is a multi-year initiative. The approach will be risk based, to ensure initial efforts are dedicated to where there is the highest likelihood that modern slavery may exist. Iluka’s first Modern Slavery Statement, reporting on the 2020 calendar year, will be published in 2021.