• Home
• Responsibility
• CR Report 2005
• Human rights

Human rights

Human rights is a broad subject that is relevant to GSK in a number of different contexts. In this section we discuss human rights for GSK employees and human rights in our supply chain.

For information on our preferential pricing arrangements for HIV/AIDS medicines, see Access to medicines.

Most of our direct employees are well educated and skilled people for whom we are striving to make our company an attractive employer. Generally our employment standards on issues such as diversity, equal opportunities and health and safety provide adequate safeguards on human rights for these employees.

Our supply chain is complex, diverse and global. We recognise it is possible that suppliers in some countries do not fully respect the human rights of their workers or local communities. Within our sphere of influence, we have begun work to ensure that our suppliers observe similar standards to ours in their relations with employees and communities.

The risk of human rights issues occurring is not as significant for GSK as for companies in some other industries. Nevertheless there are several reasons why we need to take human rights seriously. Achieving high standards on human rights supports our reputation and our goal of operational excellence. It helps us to get the best from our employees. By working with suppliers that match our standards, we help ensure the smooth operation of supplier contracts and therefore a reliable supply of high quality products.

Back to top