WSSD Report FINAL! - OGP

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THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY FROM RIO TO JOHANNESBURG AND BEYOND Ethics and human rights broadest sense, this respect means acknowledging the right of these people to exist and maintain a separate identity if they so choose. When mutually beneficial partnerships are an option, our industry can play a major role in building capacity in communities and helping to strengthen the ability for good governance. Negotiating with licensing authorities to ensure that benefits are fairly distributed—or paying royalties directly to communities—helps to achieve these aims. Issues of ethics and human rights also encompass our industry’s fundamental risk management and employment practices.Again, these are primarily community-linked: sound community development programmes contribute to successful operations under even the most challenging conditions. Similarly, company diversity in employment should reflect community diversity in race/ethnicity and gender. According to the US-based organization Business for Social Responsibility ‘as companies are becoming more aware of the forms and impacts of discriminatory practices in the global workplace, the complexity and culturallyengrained nature of some of the practices mean that further education may be needed before companies can develop leadership practices designed to diminish the occurrence of discrimination in their or their partners’ work facilities.’ This points out the challenges of a global marketplace. Our companies’ most difficult set of challenges is working within country-specific and site-specific environments while respecting competing societal factors, cultures and practices—and adhering to our fundamental values. Actions speaking louder than words Case studies on ethics and human rights Applying business principles globally Besides endorsing the Global Compact, the UDHR and other international human rights standards, Royal Dutch Shell wanted to operationalize their commitments. Consequently, in 1997 Shell became the first energy company to formally incorporate respect for human rights into its General Business Principles. In 1996, at the time when it was being criticized about its activities in Nigeria, the company engaged in a series of global dialogues with stakeholders. Revisions to the Global Business Principles resulted, together with the strengthening of assurance processes, including an annual report from each Shell company chairman on how the Business Principles had been implemented In 1997 Shell published the Shell <strong>Report</strong> called People, Planet and Profits, describing its performance against its business principles. The Shell <strong>Report</strong> has been published annually since then. Shell’s website also solicits feedback on all of its business practices. Although Shell recognizes that, as a company, there are limits to its legal or actual influence, Shell companies are able to express support for fundamental human rights within their sphere of operation. This support may not necessarily be in the form of a public statement. As a corporation, Shell seeks to uphold human rights standards in other ways as well, including: publishing primers on human rights for employees; assessing community impact; engaging in open and honest dialogue with NGOs; and participating in government initiatives—for example, the development of Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights with the US and UK governments, other companies, human rights groups and trade unions. 32
CONTRIBUTING TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Ethics and human rights Promoting labour harmony Community partnership in Yemen At the signing of the ICEM Agreement, from left to right: Lars Anders Myhre (Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers’ Union); Jostein Gaasemyr (Statoil); and Fred Higgs (ICEM) Statoil’s approach to labour relations is rooted in a Norwegian tradition that emphasizes dialogue and cooperation as the basis for relationships between employers and employees. This helps to engender a culture of trust within the company and encourages open channels of communication throughout the 21 countries in which Statoil operates. Within this vast geographical spread there are, however, great variations in terms of socio-economic development and degrees of political freedom. Consequently, the extent to which labour rights are respected also varies, meaning that Statoil’s challenges of upholding labour standards and developing good industrial relations differ from one country to another. Nevertheless, the promotion of cooperation between workers and management remains a part of Statoil’s basic approach to labour relations, helping to create a stable business environment and securing the company’s ‘licence to operate.’ Statoil’s agreement with the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) was a significant and practical reinforcement of this philosophy, providing a global agreement for local improvement. The purpose of the agreement was: ‘To create an open channel of information between ICEM and Statoil management about industrial relations issues in order to continuously improve and develop good work practice in Statoil’s worldwide operations.’ Signed in 1998, the Statoil/ICEM agreement was the first of its kind between a labour federation (whose members encompass 20 million workers in 110 countries) and an individual company. To create a natural link between Statoil and ICEM, the Norwegian Oil and Petrochemical Workers’ Union (NOPEF) acted as intermediary and signed the agreement on their own behalf. It was renewed in March 2001 and adapted to the principles of the Global Compact. Nexen’s Yemenization programme is a partnership in which the government, community, stakeholders and the company can achieve mutual goals. Central to the programme is an intensive, threeyear English language and technical course that qualifies people for full-time employment in a number of fields. The numbers of Yemenis employed has increased at a steady pace—about nine per cent a year since Nexen began the programme in 1993, though no quota system is in operation. Instead, the programme was developed as an effective means to manage a sensitive issue. Currently 65 per cent of Nexen’s employees in Yemen are Yemeni. By 2009, the company hopes that figure will grow to 80 per cent. A scholarship programme will help to achieve that aspiration as promising Yemeni students receive post-secondary education in Canada, Nexen’s home country. Candidates are selected on their ability to succeed, combined with a commitment to bring the knowledge gained back to Yemen when their education is complete. The multi-tiered selection process is based primarily on objective criteria to ensure that the integrity of the process is maintained and only the most deserving students receive awards. In 2000 Nexen doubled its commitment to 40 scholarships. Promoting human rights in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has one of the highest concentrations of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world—some 13.8 per cent of the population. There, a Statoil project, managed by the Norwegian Refugee Council, is working to contribute to peace building, reconciliation and democratization while promoting human rights through education. 33
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