Home  Responsibility Our people Human rights
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Our Code of Conduct and our Global Human Resources Policy and Standards outline the high standards of employment practice with which everyone in AstraZeneca is expected to comply, both in spirit and letter. Managers at all levels within the Company are responsible for ensuring that these standards are understood and applied.
This includes respecting diversity and, as a minimum, complying with national legal requirements regarding wages and working hours. We also support the International Labour Organisations’ standards regarding child labour and minimum age. All eligible employees have the right to be a member of a trade union. We have agreements with trade unions in a number of countries where collective bargaining is customary practice; is within a country’s legal framework, and is supported by employees. We also work closely with our major suppliers and use purchasing practices to encourage similar standards to our own. This commitment applies as much to our expanding business in emerging markets, such as China and Mexico, as it does to our existing supplier relationships.
A particular challenge for any business of our size and scale is drawing the boundaries of responsibility. We do not believe that it is appropriate for AstraZeneca proactively to promote individual rights and freedoms more widely in society than described above, but we believe that we can, and do, influence others through leading by example. ‘
In some quarters, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals for Health have been characterised in human rights’ terms as a ‘Right to Health’, with accountabilities allocated to both governments and pharmaceutical companies. We believe that in this context, it is governments who are accountable for providing a robust healthcare infrastructure for their populations – one that supports good public health and can ensure that medicines are delivered to those who need them. AstraZeneca nevertheless recognises that we have a part to play although our challenge is to shape the form of that contribution, given that our marketed medicines are not for treating the most significant healthcare problems in the developing world today. We continue to participate in national and international discussions on this issue, in which we explain that we believe the best way we can help to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals is through our TB research in Bangalore and from our initiatives aimed at strengthening local healthcare capabilities.
The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2008
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