Endesa is committed to supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Respect for Human Rights is one of the guiding principles of our activities in all the countries and territories where we operate.

On 16 June 2011, The United Nations’ Human Rights Council adopted the “Guiding Principles on Companies and Human Rights” which stresses that the rights granted by the International Bill of Human Rights are of great importance for companies (non-discrimination, rights of indigenous populations, abolition of child labour, etc.). Respect for these rights must be a fundamental responsibility of companies.

In particular, the understanding of this responsibility stated in the Guiding Principles is implemented through an approach that goes beyond the company’s “legal” limits and includes the entire industry: a company can be involved in human rights’ abuses both directly and indirectly.

On 5 February 2013, Enel adopted the approach set out by the United Nations within the framework of “protect, respect and remedy” through the approval by the Board of Directors of a policy on the respect for Human Rights.  This consolidates and expands on the commitment already set out in the Ethics Code, the Corruption Zero Tolerance Plan and the 231 Compliance Program.

Endesa embraces the principles and commitments contained in the Enel Group Human Rights Policy: this policy was approved by the Board of Directors of Endesa S.A. on 24 June 2013.

This policy is marked by a multi-stakeholder consultation process spanning six months, with the participation of different company areas (CSR, Human Resources, Legal, Purchases, Audit, Risk Management, etc.) and important international experts in this field. 

The policy identifies eight principles that employees and subsidiaries must comply with in two main areas: labour practices and communities and companies.

Furthermore, through this formal commitment we promote respect for these rights among contractors, suppliers and business partners.

As required by the Guiding Principles, due diligence processes will be developed, including , for example, the Human Rights Compliance Assessment (HRCA) in all countries where we operate, integration of social, environmental and good governance metrics in risk management procedures and development of a method to assess the social impact of industrial projects.

Endesa has a specific channel that internal and external stakeholders can use to report cases of breaches of this policy. We also have a complaint management process, in keeping with the Ethics Code.