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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Human rights

We are committed to upholding the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multi-National Enterprises and the core labour standards set out by the International Labour Organization. We are a signatory to the UN Global Compact, a voluntary global standard on human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption.

We believe that governments have a responsibility to define and enforce a legal framework for human rights in accordance with international laws and agreements, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Businesses also have responsibilities. We work hard to uphold human rights within our sphere of influence, which includes employees, suppliers, communities and society. We have most direct control over human rights in our own operations and can also influence our supply chain and wider society. As a marketer of medicines, we strive to make them as widely available as possible while running our business in a sustainable way.

High standards of human rights are important to GSK because they:

Help us get the best from our employees
Support our relationships with communities near our sites
Ensure supplier contracts run smoothly and provide a reliable supply of high-quality products
Protect our reputation

Human rights are relevant to many of the issues covered in this report. This section gives an overview of our approach.