Human Rights

IRPC has formulated a strategy of embedding respect for human rights in all processes throughout the value chain, based on 3 principles: Protect, Respect and Remedy. This is implemented through effective communication, awareness-raising campaigns, and network fostering.

• Protect involves applying human rights protection principles within the organization with emphasis on supervisory oversight through the policies of IRPC and our subsidiaries. IRPC’s human rights policy is communicated to all personnel in the organization, including suppliers, business partners and joint ventures. Additionally, comprehensive guidelines for the Human Rights Management System and the Human Rights Risk Assessment are developed to proactively prevent any human rights violations. Roles and responsibilities pertaining to human rights issues are clearly defined for committees, departments, and work units, ensuring thorough oversight for all stakeholders. These include the Board of Directors, Corporate Governance Committee, Risk Management Committee, Management, and organization development unit, etc.
• Respect involves demonstrating respect for human rights through the practice of Human Rights Due Diligence and the effective management of human rights in Supply Chain Management.
• Remedy involves providing remediation in case of human rights violations through complaint channels, witness protection measures, the establishment of procedures for rehabilitation and remediation of affected individuals.

IRPC is committed to a comprehensive due diligence process aligned with international standards to assess and address human rights risks and impacts within the organization. The systematic approach includes the following steps:

1. Identification of relevant human rights issues: IRPC identifies potential human rights risks and impacts associated with business activities and relationships across the value chain, considering the following scopes: labor rights, community rights, supply chain, security and safety, environment, and customer rights.
2. Identification of right holders: IRPC identifies right holders as employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, and communities with a particular emphasis on vulnerable groups such as children, person with disability, elderly, women, indigenous people, migrant laborers, third-party contracted labor and LGBTQIA+ who may be impacted by IRPC’s operations and are at risk of having their human rights violated.
3. Human rights risks and impact assessment: Impacts and likelihood of human rights risks are assessed at the corporate level of own operation and throughout the value chain, including IRPC affiliates, controllable and uncontrollable joint ventures, and critical Tier 1 suppliers. The assessment process also includes the analysis of risk which is defined into 4 levels of risk impact (extreme, high, medium, and low level). The evaluated impacts at the medium to extreme level will be considered for relevant existing control functions within the organization to identify corporate human rights risks.
4. Mitigation measures and integration: IRPC has concerns about appropriate mitigation measures to alleviate human rights risks. Hence, IRPC develops risk mitigation measures that align with different risk levels. These mitigation measures are integrated, minimized, and controlled to a low residual risk level at an acceptable level. Examples of mitigation measures include managing security, occupational health and safety of employees, and mitigating environmental impacts.
5. Tracking and communication: The performance according to human rights mitigation measures is tracked, monitored and reviewed by responsible management teams annually to ensure human rights issues are rectified.

Since 2018, IRPC has conducted a Human Rights Risk Assessment (HRRA) across the entire IRPC group, as along with an in-depth assessment of value chain throughout all business units. Additionally, starting in 2022, public consultations and human rights assessments for all new investment projects have been consistently conducted. The assessments are performed by relevant internal functions to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of human rights risks in IRPC’s operations and joint ventures (JVs) across the entire value chain. To facilitate this process, IRPC has developed a Human Rights Risk Assessment System on an online platform, streamlining data collection, analysis, and reporting to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the assessment process.

The HRRA process involves the identification of issues assessment of impacts on rights holders and vulnerable groups, and evaluation of the likelihood of these impacts. The assessed groups include various stakeholders such as employees within IRPC, society, subsidiaries, Joint Venture (JV) partners, and our business partners (suppliers, contractors, customers). Specific attention is given to vulnerable groups, including women, children, indigenous people, migrant people, third-party contracted labor, communities/residents, customer/consumer, LGBTQI+, person with disability, pregnant women, elderly.

IRPC has set guidelines for the creation of complaint channels and an efficient complaint handling process, including assigning a person to take responsibility for handling complaints as well as notifying the complainants of the decisions made to resolve their grievances. IRPC will appropriately address stakeholder concerns, including compensation, rehabilitation, apologies, and process improvements. Also, IRPC provides a secure and fair grievance mechanism, ensuring thorough investigation and resolution.

From 2021 to 2024, IRPC’s unwavering commitment to human rights resulted in the successful elimination of any reported cases of human rights violations, meeting the organization’s established objective.