Human Rights

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights
Principle 2: Businesses should make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses

We fully support the Global Compact’s Principles related to Human Rights.

Code of Ethics

In our operations, we maintain a Code of Ethics. Every employee is required to read and comply with our Code of Ethics, which speaks specifically to respect for individual rights and property and provides mechanisms for employees to report unethical behavior.

For more information see Code of Ethics.

Vendor Expectations
In fiscal 2007, we began developing a Set of Vendor Expectations. The scope of these guidelines included overall legal compliance, forced labor, child labor, wages and benefits, hours of work, freedom of association, discrimination and abuse, health and safety, and environmental responsibility.

In fiscal 2008, we began sharing, and measuring compliance with these guidelines. For measuring compliance, we created a set of tools, including self-assessments, surveys, on-site assessments by GMCR staff, and commissioned audits of vendor facilities.

We tested these tools by auditing our own Waterbury, VT, facility. We performed our first supplier audit in September 2008. For the first audit, we chose the firm that manufactures all our Keurig® Brewers – the Simatelex organization. They operate three factories in Shenzhen, in the Guangdong province of China. We audited one factory – the Xin Fan facility. We will receive the final audit report in fiscal 2009 and will work with Simatelex to understand and act on the findings in that report.

Working together with our supply chain, we can all become better citizens and more sustainable businesses by setting clear expectations, and identifying and correcting issues when they arise.

For more information see Vendor Expectations.

Programs and Initiatives
Many of our social and environmental responsibility programs and initiatives speak directly to human rights. In all cases, they help create an environment in which quality of life and respect for human rights can be supported. In fiscal 2008, our efforts led to the following: 

• Our sales of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee grew to over 28% of total coffee pounds shipped; 
• We achieved enterprise-wide goals and programs around energy use and solid waste; 
• We designed and funded research in coffee-growing communities focused on understanding and reducing poverty and hunger in our supply chain; 
• We funded grants related to the following: 
  • Access to financing, education, and health care, as well as income diversification and nutrition programs in coffee-growing communities; 
  • The reduction of childhood hunger and the elevation of hunger as a national policy concern; 
  • The connection of food service professionals, local sustainable agricultural businesses, parents, and children to promote healthy consumption in the schools; 
  • Raising awareness and building capacities related to organic farming and Fair Trade; and 
  • Picking up litter and cleaning up our home state of Vermont, as well as supporting an annual effort to clean up our nation’s rivers. 

Fair Trade Certified™ Coffees

We support the Global Compact’s Human Rights Principles in coffee-growing communities through our support for and investment in Fair Trade Certified™ coffees. The Fair Trade system is designed to help small farmers accelerate their economic and social development through fair access to markets and the development of better conditions for trade. Fair Trade Certified™ organizations are community-based organizations with democratic decision-making structures. The Fair Trade system is based on concern for local communities and the well-being and inherent dignity of the individuals within them; its purpose is to create a market-based system that promotes and protects the human rights of the most marginalized participants in our global economy.

For more information see Buidling Demand for Sustainable Products.