Human Rights > Commitment to Respect Human Rights

Human Rights Due Diligence

Samsung Electronics strives to identify, prevent, mitigate, and address actual and potential impacts on human rights throughout our global operations, supply chains, and business relationships. We integrate findings and insights learned from the due diligence into our process to ensure that appropriate policies and management systems are in place. In addition, we consider enhancing due diligence in response to pertinent situations such as entering new regional markets, initiating partnerships with new suppliers, or addressing emerging human rights issues in the global landscape.

1. Embed the respect for human rights into policy and management system 2. Identify and assess adverse human rights impacts 3. Cease, prevent or mitigate adverse impacts 4. Track implementation and results 5. Communicate how impacts are addressed 6. Provide for or cooperate in remediation 1. Embed the respect for human rights into policy and management system 2. Identify and assess adverse human rights impacts 3. Cease, prevent or mitigate adverse impacts 4. Track implementation and results 5. Communicate how impacts are addressed 6. Provide for or cooperate in remediation

Salient Human Rights Risks

Samsung Electronics defines salient human rights risks as areas of human rights that may be most seriously affected by our business activities.

To identify actual and potential human rights risks, Samsung Electronics conducts various assessments, including assessments of our business sites by internal experts, third-party audits based on RBA standards, and human rights impact assessments with external experts. In order to identify human rights risks related to our business activities, we also analyze reports from civil society organizations, media articles, conversations with stakeholders such as with human rights experts and investors, and grievances and complaints filed by employees. In February 2023, we disclosed 11 salient human rights risks as a part of Samsung Electronics Global Human Rights Principles.

A table summarizing the Salient human rights risks, including organizational units in charge, stakeholders, and examples of human rights activities.
Salient
human
rights
risks		 Organizational
units in charge		 Actually or
potentially
affected
stakeholders		 Activities to prevent,
mitigate, or
address
human rights risks
Working
hours and
adequate
standard of
living
  • People
    Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • Internal monitoring and third-party audits
  • Industry network engagement

Working hours

  • Pre-building of new products prior to their official release
  • Regular review of working hours at our production sites and suppliers
  • Diagnosing subsidiaries with irregularities and addressing root causes

Standard of living

  • Calculation of living wage based on Anker Methodology for 20 production sites
  • Establishing improvement plans for sites paying below the living wage
Forced
labor
and
child labor
  • People
    Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • Internal monitoring, including of government and NGO reports, and third-party audits
  • Industry network engagement

Forced labor

  • Development of tailored audit tools for our production sites employing foreign migrant workers
  • On-site audits of our production sites and dormitories
  • Face-to-face interviews with foreign migrant workers on their working and living conditions
  • Conducting specialized audits of forced labor of migrant workers employed by our suppliers

Child labor

  • Employment management system
  • Age verification process
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Conducting special audits of child labor for first-tier and second-tier suppliers before and after the school vacation period
Freedom of
association
and collective
bargaining
  • People
    Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Global Technology Research
  • Vender Management Improvement T/F
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • Internal and third-party audits
  • Reinforcement of relevant articles in our Code of Conduct
  • Labor and Human Rights Council overseen by the Board of Directors
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Dialogues and collaboration with employee representative bodies, including labor unions and works councils
Occupational
health and
safety
  • Global EHS
    Office
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in the
    supply chains
  • Internal and third-party
    monitoring
  • Acquiring and retaining
    internationally recognized EHS
    certifications at all of our business sites
  • Establishing a monitoring system for all of our global production sites
  • Development and adoption of new protective gear
  • Safety capacity-building and training, and fostering experts
Non-discrimination
& diversity and
inclusion
  • People
    Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • End users ·
    Consumers
  • Local
    communities·
    Society
  • Internal and third-party audits
  • Internal DEI network
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Annual employee surveys
    (Samsung Culture Index)
  • Industry network engagement
Anti-
harassment
  • People Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains 
  • Internal and third-party audits
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Annual employee surveys
    (Samsung Culture Index)
Product
responsibility
including AI ethics
  • Samsung Research
  • Corporate Sustainability Center
  • R&D Teams at each business unit
  • End users ·
    Consumers
  • AI Ethics Principles of fairness,
    transparency, and accountability
  • Guidelines on AI Ethics
  • Provision of AI models and data
    card templates
  • Online training
Digital
responsibility
including privacy
and freedom of
expression
  • Information Security Center
  • Global Privacy Office
  • Communicati
    ons Team
  • Partner
    Collaboration Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • End users ·
    Consumers
  • Local
    communities ·
    Society
  • Provision of products and services
    in compliance with Samsung
    Privacy Protection Principles
    including transparency, security,
    and choice
  • Enabling freedom of expression in products and services
Environmental responsibility
  • Global EHS Office
  • Partner Collaboration Center
  • Corporate Sustainability Center
  • Our employees
  • Workers in our supply chains
  • End users · Consumers
  • Local communities · Society
  • Announcement of the
    New Environmental Strategy incorporating emissions reduction, new sustainability practices, and innovative technologies and products
  • Acquiring and retaining internationally recognized environment and energy certifications
Supplier
responsibility
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Purchase
    Teams
  • Global EHS
    Office
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • Responsible purchasing practice
    requirements in contracts and
    evaluations of suppliers
  • Self-assessments, internal and
    third-party monitoring
  • Regular verification of supplier data
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Monitoring the status of remedy for victims of human rights violations at first-tier suppliers
Responsible
minerals
sourcing
  • Partner
    Collaboration
    Center
  • Purchase
    Teams
  • Corporate
    Sustainability
    Center
  • Workers in our
    supply chains
  • Local
    communities·
    Society
  • Participation in grassroots projects
  • Capacity-building and training
  • Industry network engagement
  • Monitoring data on conflict minerals and high-risk minerals used by first-tier suppliers and smelters
  • Conducting on-site audits at first-tier suppliers
  • Requesting a ban on transactions with suppliers using uncertified smelters

Assessments by Internal Experts

Samsung Electronics uses a labor and human rights risk management system to conduct human rights assessments and specific audits and assess the level of respect for human rights at its business sites.

Labor and human rights risk management system

In 2013, Samsung Electronics established a monitoring system to uphold labor and human rights and compliance management at our business sites. In 2023, we upgraded this system to the Business & Human Rights Benchmark (BHRB), which evaluates each business site’s compliance with international human rights standards, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). The assessment utilizes 39 items and 159 sub-indicators across four key categories: labor and human rights, organizational culture, working environment, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We conduct annual evaluations of each business site and implement simplified human rights impact assessments for business sites in need of improvement.

Simplified Human Rights Impact Assessment (sHRIA)

Our internal labor and human rights experts select business sites in need of improving aforementioned indicators. They review various factors such as level of respect for labor rights in the country where our business sites are in operation, organizational culture, grievances, workforce changes, potential company policy violations, and human rights risks identified in the past. This process is known as the Simplified Human Rights Impact Assessment (sHRIA), which is a streamlined version of the full Human Rights Impact Assessment conducted by external experts. sHRIA involves interviewing vulnerable groups and stakeholders to gauge the company’s potential and actual human rights impacts in its operations, suggest preventive or mitigating measure to address identified impacts, and monitor implementation.

Topic-specific audits

Samsung Electronics created assessment tools and conducted on-site audits to respect the rights of vulnerable groups in accordance with international human rights standards; vulnerable groups in the company include migrant workers and female employees among others. We have audited four subsidiaries employing migrant workers to make sure they follow our Migrant Worker Policy and Policy Implementation Guide leveraging the RBA audit methodology and key industry references. To identify potential discrimination against female employees in the workplace, we have also conducted audits using our Gender Equality Self-Assessment Toolkit which we developed with reference to the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles, RBA audit methodology, and the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Gender Benchmark methodology.

Human Rights Impact Assessment and Saliency Analysis

Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) analyzes the impact of business activities on right holders such as employees, workers within supply chains, local community members, and consumers. HRIA typically involves more in-depth consultations with potentially affected stakeholders than other forms of human rights assessment. In turn, a Human Rights Saliency Analysis (HRSA), a type of human rights due diligence, prioritizes actual and potential human rights impacts based on the severity (scale of affected people, scope of the impact, remediability, among others) and the probability of occurrence. HRSA helps companies focus their resources on managing human rights risks that are likely to have an adverse impact and is concluded with the identification of salient human rights risks.

Samsung Electronics conducted its first human rights impact assessment at a Vietnam business site in 2017. We also conducted a human rights saliency analysis in Türkiye prior to the opening of our production site in the country in 2021.

RBA Validated Assessment Program

As a member of Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), Samsung Electronics is committed to implementing the RBA Code of Conduct. Every year, we complete the Self-Assessment Questionnaire at our production sites. Furthermore, every production site is audited at least every two years, not only the site designated as high-risk. These audits follow the standards of the RBA’s audit protocols, known as the Validated Assessment Program (VAP). If any non-conformance is found at any production site, the corrective action plan (CAP) shall be developed to address the issues and prevent reoccurrence. The CAP must be reviewed and approved by auditors. We then ensure the approved corrective plan is implemented within the timeframe set by the RBA standards.

2023 RBA VAP Summary

Medium to Long-term Goals for Human Rights
Management

A table outlining the goals for 2024, and 2027 for Human Rights Due Diligence on Business Sites and Third-Party Audits on Suppliers
 Category 2023 2024 2027
Human Rights
Due
Diligence
on Business
Sites		 100% 100% 100%
Third-Party
Audits on
Suppliers		 100% 100% 100%
Human rights due diligence
  • Complete VAP1) or AMA2) of RBA on all 31 global (including Korea) production sites; renewed every two years.
Third-party audits on suppliers
  • Among suppliers that supply parts to production sites, complete CMA3) of RBA on all suppliers that are subject to the audit as they account for 90% or higher of the transaction amount; renewed every three years.
ESG Audit and Capacity-Building
1) Validated Assessment Program
2) Auditee Managed Audit
3) Customer Managed Audit
Last updated June 28, 2024