Human Rights & Our Supply Chain (2024)

Our Commitment

M&S has a responsibility to ensure our products are responsibly sourced and uphold ourGlobal Sourcing Principles. Ethical Trade and human rights are fundamental in allowing individuals to lead a dignified and independent life, free from abuse and violation.

We have a long history of respecting human rights in the UK and standing up for those values internationally. As both employer and buyer, our business was founded on the understanding that we are only as strong as the communities in which we trade. We strive to be a fair partner through our purchasing practices – paying a fair price to suppliers, supporting local communities and ensuring good working conditions for everyone working in our business and supply chains. This principle is still at the heart of how we do business today. That said, the evolving nature of the business and human rights agenda means we still have much to do and are still learning on this complex topic. These are issues which by their very nature are often hidden and the root causes extremely complex. 

Human Rights & Our Supply Chain (2024)

FAQs

What are the human rights issues in supply chain? ›

“Supply chain incidents that involve allegations of human rights violations have been linked to a wide range of consumer products, including palm oil, tobacco, cocoa, coffee, sugar, seafood, rubber and chemicals,” note the authors, “Major global brands, such as Unilever UL, Nestlé NSRGY and Kellogg's KLG, have been ...

Why do you think human rights are important in supply chains? ›

If a violation of human rights is found in the company or even the supply chain, the financial and reputational damage can be devastating. Companies must comply with expanding regulations that include a range of enforceable local and international laws if human rights issues are uncovered.

What is human rights due diligence in supply chains? ›

What is human rights due diligence with reference to workers' rights? Human rights due diligence involves the actions taken by a company to both identify and act upon actual and potential human rights risks for workers in its operations, supply chains and the services it uses.

Why is it important to include labor and human rights in supply management? ›

Companies therefore have a significant responsibility to ensure that they operate in a way that respects the human rights of these populations and remediates any violations of human rights they uncover. This means, for example, not using slave labor, child labor or forced labor.

What is the biggest problem in supply chain? ›

What Are the 7 Biggest Supply Chain Challenges?
  1. Material Shortages. ...
  2. Lack of Supply Chain Visibility. ...
  3. Demand Forecasting Complexity. ...
  4. Supply Chain Fragmentation. ...
  5. Congestion at Critical Ports. ...
  6. Increasing Transportation and Freight Costs. ...
  7. Digital Transformation and Integration.
Sep 2, 2022

What are the 6 rights of supply chain? ›

To ensure smooth operations, organizations need to remain conscious of the 6Rs, or six “rights” of the supply chain: right product, right cost, right place, right time, right quality and right quantity.

What are the 4 steps of human rights due diligence? ›

However, the key elements of human rights due diligence—assessing, integrating and acting, tracking, and communicating—when taken together with remediation processes, provide the management of any enterprise with the framework it needs in order to know and show that it is respecting human rights in practice.

What is the main purpose of human rights due diligence? ›

The prevention of adverse impacts on people is the main purpose of human rights due diligence. It concerns risks to people, not risks to business.

What is the new supply chain due diligence Act? ›

The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act requires these companies to identify, assess, prevent and remedy human rights and environmental risks and impacts in their own operations and supply chains.

How does human resources affect supply chain management? ›

HRM in supply chain also involves managing the relationships between suppliers, vendors, manufacturers, and customers. This includes ensuring that the suppliers are reliable and deliver goods and services on time, managing the logistics and transportation processes, and providing excellent customer service.

How ethical is your supply chain? ›

An ethical supply chain of an organization monitors its end-to-end workflow by staying true to its corporate responsibility goals, sustainable manufacturing process, human rights, and environmental-first practices and applying fair-trade policies across its factions.

What is one of the biggest ethical risks in supply chain management? ›

Question: One of the biggest ethical risks in supply chain management is that thesupply chain member tends to be the one that suffers the blame and/or lost goodwill when something goes wrong.

What are HR issues in supply chain? ›

Understanding the forces at work and intricacy of the supply chain is quite exciting and is essential for any supply chain venture. Main Human Resources issues facing the Supply Chain Management: Job Attraction & Retention • Education and Training • Moving with technology; and • Succession and career planning.

What are the problems with humanitarian supply chain? ›

According Smilowitz and Dolinskaya [10], the main challenge of humanitarian supply chain management is to establish a flow of donations from different sources (national and international) which are not always useful, timely, or appropriate, with minimal waste of resources.

What are human rights issues in companies? ›

Right to just and favorable working conditions: Businesses can provide just and favorable working conditions by following strong health and safety standards, but they can also cause harm to their workers by failing to provide sufficient breaks during working hours or exposing workers to toxic substances that are ...

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: The Hon. Margery Christiansen

Last Updated:

Views: 6131

Rating: 5 / 5 (50 voted)

Reviews: 81% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: The Hon. Margery Christiansen

Birthday: 2000-07-07

Address: 5050 Breitenberg Knoll, New Robert, MI 45409

Phone: +2556892639372

Job: Investor Mining Engineer

Hobby: Sketching, Cosplaying, Glassblowing, Genealogy, Crocheting, Archery, Skateboarding

Introduction: My name is The Hon. Margery Christiansen, I am a bright, adorable, precious, inexpensive, gorgeous, comfortable, happy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.