This policy was approved by Repsol’s Corporate Executive Committee on May 9, 2023.
Human Rights and Community Relations Policy
Our aim is to respect internationally recognized human rights. These rights encompass those rights set out in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles relating to rights set out in the International Labor Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, as well as the eight Fundamental Conventions that develop them. The term "respect" implies that we will make reasonable efforts to prevent our activities from causing negative impacts on human rights and, if they do occur, we will do our best to mitigate or remedy the harm.
Integrating human rights due diligence into all our activities and commercial relationships, in all the countries where we operate and in all the phases of the life cycle, including decommissioning.
Remediate those negative impacts that our activity has on human rights.
Respect the human rights of all those people who work at Repsol, as well as those of our customers. Establish solid relationships with the communities and stakeholders of the areas of influence of our projects and assets and contribute to local socioeconomic development and the preservation of their environment.
Repsol expects its partners, suppliers, contractors, distributors and other commercial relationships to respect these commitments and human rights in the development of their activities in any part of the world and, consequently, address any negative impacts in which they are involved.
Proceed with human rights due diligence.
Remediate the impacts our activities, products or services may have caused.
Maintain solid relationships with our stakeholders.
Work with our commercial relationships to extend these commitments.
Respect in all our activities and commercial relationships the human rights internationally recognized in the Treaties and international standards on business and human rights.
Click on each illustration to read the full content of each commitment
Foster a culture of respect for human rights, promoting awareness and training to our personnel, suppliers, and stakeholders.
Identify and assess the risks and impacts.
Define and implement prevention, mitigation and remediation measures for the negative impacts identified.
Integrate the conclusions of impact assessments in our internal processes.
Carry out continuous monitoring of the risks and impacts identified, as well as compliance with mitigation and remediation action plans.
Establish effective grievance and protection mechanisms for potentially affected persons in our operations, from the start of our activity, so that the potentially affected people and rights holders can access and notify Repsol of any situation with a potential human rights impact.
Externally communicate all due diligence progress and always act with total transparency with public institutions, partners, and stakeholders.
Respect the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights in relationships established with public and private security forces and international humanitarian law.
Promote a remediation system designed according to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Collaborate with the national and/or international human rights protection systems, whether of a judicial or non-judicial nature and not hinder their normal operation.
Respect the human rights of all those people who work at Repsol, in particular health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, as well as the standards relating to working hours.
Prevent and combat discrimination and harassment at work for any reason, as well as violence and sexual harassment. Pay special attention to ensuring equality between men and women in access to employment, working conditions and salaries.
Reject any form of child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.
Respect their human rights in all phases of the life cycle of the projects and assets.
Assess and understand the socioeconomic environment where we operate and identify all the groups of the communities of our area of influence, especially vulnerable groups.
Recognize and respect the identity and unique nature of communities; their cultural diversity; their aspirations and needs, and the right to maintain their customs and social practices.
Promote transparent engagement in a timely, honest, and culturally appropriate manner, based on listening, open exchange of information, and shared value.
Respect the ownership and use of the land and the right to natural resources, including water, according to the International Finance Corporation standards.
Recognize and respect the unique nature of indigenous, tribal, and aboriginal peoples and their rights, in accordance with existing legislation in each Country (provided they aren't in conflict with international standards) and with the human rights internationally recognized through Convention 169 of the ILO (regardless of whether or not it has been ratified by the country where we operate) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes, amongst others, ownership, control, and management rights over their lands, territories, and natural resources, autonomy and self-governance rights, the right to maintain their own organizational structures, the right to maintain and promote their cultures, the right to make their own development decisions, the right to take part in all decisions, projects, and profit that is generated in their territories, the right to free, prior and informed consultation and, where applicable, the right to free, prior and informed consent. Cooperating in good faith with governments to ensure that all rights of indigenous communities are guaranteed in our operations.
Recognize the rights of women and apply a gender-based approach that promotes the protection of their rights and their participation in engagement spaces.
Recognize the rights of the child and respect the Rights of the child and business Principles.
Respect and not hinder the peaceful leadership work of human rights defenders. Not tolerate or contribute to threats or aggressions and, when the situation requires, collaborate with these people to create safe engagement environments.
Respect the human rights of our customers.
Reject any type of discrimination against customers and product and service users.
Respect at all times the right to their privacy, protecting and correctly using the personal data entrusted to us by our customers and users.
Identify opportunities to optimize the positive impacts of our activity and promote the shared value and the sustainable development of communities.
Contribute to local socioeconomic development and the environmental preservation of the areas of influence of our projects and assets, in line with our commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Promote knowledge and compliance with the commitments of this policy.
Work with our partners and suppliers in any activity to foster the compliance with the human rights due diligence and to remediate the adverse impacts related to our operations, products, or services.
In the case of significant risk suppliers, request objective evidence of the integration of human rights due diligence in their activities. Moreover, Repsol expects said suppliers to work with their supply chains to respect human rights.
Our commitments
Establish solid relationships with the communities where we are present, based on recognition, trust, mutual respect, and shared value through proactive engagement and responsible and transparent management of social impacts and opportunities.
Remediate the impacts our activities, products or services may have caused:
Remediating those negative impacts that our activity has on human rights. To this end, Repsol is committed to:
Maintain solid relationships with our stakeholders:
Respecting the human rights of all those people who work at Repsol, in particular, health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, as well as the standards relating to working hours. Additionally, Repsol is committed to:
Establishing solid relationships with the communities and stakeholders of the areas of influence of our projects and assets, based on the principles of mutual respect, trust, recognition, cultural sensitivity, integrity, responsibility, transparency, good faith, and non-discrimination, through proactive engagement and responsible and transparent management of social impacts and opportunities. To this end, Repsol is committed to:
Respecting the human rights of our customers. Rejecting any type of discrimination against customers and product and service users. Respecting at all times the right to their privacy, protecting and correctly using the personal data entrusted to us by our customers and users.
Identifying opportunities to optimize the positive impacts of our activity and promote the shared value and the sustainable development of communities through contribution to local socioeconomic development and the environmental preservation of the areas of influence of our projects and assets, in line with our commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
Work with our commercial relationships to extend these commitments:
Repsol expects its partners, suppliers, contractors, distributors and other commercial relationships to respect these commitments and human rights in the development of their activities in any part of the world and, consequently, address any negative impacts in which they are involved. To this end, it is committed to:
It is the responsibility of all Repsol employees to comply with this policy.
1 International treaties on human rights: International Bill of Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Convention on the Rights of the Child.
ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the eight conventions that develop them: Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining (Convention No. 87 and No. 98), Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour (Convention No. 29 and No. 105), Effective abolition of child labour (Convention No. 138 and No. 182) and Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation (Convention No. 100 and No. 111) .
Convention number 169 of the ILO. Humanitarian law in conflict areas. Furthermore, Repsol shall also respect all International Treaties in regional human rights protection systems in whose countries it operates.
2 International standards on business and human rights: UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability, and the 10 principles of the Global Compact.
This policy was approved by Repsol’s Corporate Executive Committee on May 9, 2023.
Want to know more?
See our Human Rights and Community Relations Policy.