Human rights

¹ As defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

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Our ambition

We recognise our responsibility to respect human rights, which includes avoiding infringing on the human rights of others, addressing our adverse impacts and contributing to the fuller enjoyment of human rights as part of our commitment to social value.

As a company, we are committed to:

respecting internationally recognised human rights as set out in the International Bill of Human Rights
operating in a manner consistent with the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 10 UN Global Compact Principles
being guided by the aims of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as articulated in our Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement
complying with applicable laws and regulations of the countries where we operate (and where differences exist between our standards and local customs, norms, rules or regulations, seeking to apply the higher standard)

Our approach and position

Our approach is founded in the belief that all human beings have the right to live a life of dignity. We commit to taking a rights-based approach throughout our own operations (including our capital projects, operated assets and exploration activities) and in our supply chain, which means we will:

aim to identify and manage risks to people who may be impacted by our operations, not only risks to our operations
consider how impacts may particularly affect those who are most marginalised, excluded or discriminated against
seek to engage with potentially impacted peoples, including vulnerable groups, to incorporate their voices in our approach to preventing and mitigating impacts from our operations and realising opportunities
aim to prioritise preventing and mitigating the most severe adverse impacts to people, with a focus on our operations
seek to provide or cooperate in providing access to remedy for adverse impacts that we cause or contribute to through our operations

Human rights due diligence is an important part of our approach to respecting human rights. We commit to assessing actual and potential impacts at our operated assets and in our supply chain, integrating and acting upon the findings, monitoring effectiveness and communicating how actual and potential impacts are addressed.

We apply a range of risk-based due diligence methods for our growth, operated assets and commercial portfolios, grounded in the principles outlined by the UN Guiding Principles and Business and Human Rights and informed by standard setting resources, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), and OECD. Considerations for conducting for due diligence include, but are not limited to, risk exposure and the nature of our investment and project stage, to ensure that we have an informed view of potential and actual risks and control effectiveness. Our due diligence methods also seek to incorporate views from rightsholders as an essential component in risk identification and assessment and control design.

Our approach allows for local customisation and co-creation of mitigation strategies in appropriate circumstances but is globally consistent to support identification of any shared human rights issues, which helps us identify potential opportunities for Group-wide collaboration and policy improvements to support prevention, mitigation and remediation of those issues.

Governance and oversight, engagements and partnerships, policies and standards, risk management and performance and disclosure.

Governance and oversight

The Board of BHP Group Limited is ultimately accountable for overseeing the effectiveness of BHP’s risk management systems and internal controls. The Board’s Risk and Audit Committee and Sustainability Committee assist in that oversight by reviewing and considering BHP’s material risk profile on a biannual basis, as well as other subject matter specific management reports. For information on the role of the BHP Board in overseeing our approach to and delivery on sustainability refer to the Sustainability approach webpage.

Our Charter and Our Code of Conduct (Our Code) set out the expectations and standards of behaviour for our people, as well as our expectations of the third parties who work with us or on our behalf, including our suppliers, contractors and community partners. The human rights commitments in Our Code are implemented through our Human Rights Policy Statement, our Responsible Minerals Policy, and the mandatory minimum performance requirements in our relevant Global Standards such as the Community and Indigenous Peoples Global Standard and Minimum requirements for suppliers.

Our Human Rights Policy Statement was developed in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, included consultation with internal and external stakeholders, and was approved by the Board. The policy and the Global Standards that operationalise it apply to all our operated assets and functions in accordance with our reporting scope and boundaries. They are reviewed regularly by the Chief Legal, Governance and External Affairs Officer.

We have a dedicated global Human Rights and Social Performance team within our External Affairs function that maintains oversight and conducts assurance of the Human Rights Policy Statement and related standards for our growth, operated assets, and supply chain, as well as provides capability building across our first line teams and business relationships as needed.

In addition, we maintain a Responsible Minerals Program that is specific to suppliers who sell minerals and/or metals directly into our operated assets that will physically form part of our products or selling minerals or metals to BHP that BHP intends to market to a third party. This program is managed by our Commercial function. More information can be found at Value chain sustainability | BHP.

Engagement and partnerships

We strive for early, meaningful and ongoing dialogue with people whose human rights may be impacted by our activities and business relationships. Where possible, we seek to engage with potentially affected people throughout our due diligence to understand their perspectives, minimise any power imbalances and achieve relationships built on respect, trust and transparency.

In addition to our operational-level complaints and grievance mechanisms, our channels to raise misconduct concerns, including any human rights concerns comprise an online portal and 24-hour confidential, multilingual call service that is accessible to all, including external stakeholders and the public, to report conduct that may be unethical, illegal or inconsistent with Our Code of Conduct. We view feedback as an opportunity to build and enhance trust, review current processes and continually improve. Ensuring that concerns can be raised about our business activities or processes is something we take very seriously.

Local community complaints and grievance mechanisms are required to be in place at our capital projects and operated assets. We aim to acknowledge, review, investigate, respond and document all issues raised through these mechanisms.

Where complaints are investigated and substantiated, we will provide for or cooperate in their remediation where we have caused or contributed to the adverse impact. We will continue to work with partners and stakeholders to identify ways to communicate how complaints have been addressed and integrated back into our due diligence and risk management processes.

Under Our Code, BHP does not allow any form of punishment, discipline or retaliatory action to be taken against anyone for speaking up or cooperating with an investigation.

As human rights are influenced by the broader social, political and economic environment, we also engage with civil society, industry, government and other partners on human rights issues related to our business, our sector and, where appropriate, businesses at large, to enhance collective action in support of the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. BHP is a member of the UN Global Compact Network of Australia and regularly participates in business and human rights forums across the world.

Policies and standards

Our Code

Human Rights Policy Statement

Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement

Community and Indigenous Peoples Global Standard

Responsible Minerals Policy

Minimum requirements for suppliers

Risk management

The findings from our human rights due diligence are required to be integrated into BHP’s material risk profile under our Risk Framework at a company, asset and project level, so we can monitor and evaluate our approach to prevention and mitigation of adverse human rights impacts throughout our own operations and in our supply chain.

For human rights, we focus on the most salient human rights impacts so that issues that present the highest risks or greatest opportunities can be prioritised. Through our due diligence and risk process, including our human rights saliency assessment, we have identified material human rights risks related to:

workplace health and safety (including psychosocial harm and sexual harassment)
labour rights (including modern slavery)
activities of security providers
land access and use
climate change and equitable change and transition
environment, water and air quality
community health, safety and wellbeing
Indigenous peoples’ rights relating to culture, identity, traditions and customs

For more information on our approach to these specific issues refer to:

Performance and disclosure

We regularly assure our performance against our policies and standards, and develop improvement plans where necessary.

We report annually on our human rights performance through our Annual Report, ESG Standards and Databook and Modern Slavery Statement.

Human rights

Our ambition

Our approach and position

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