While Ford has long recognized the business and moral case for treating our employees and suppliers with dignity and respect, in 2000, human rights became a formal focus of our Company's sustainability agenda. At that time, we consulted with stakeholders, looked at the public's changing expectations for companies such as ours, and assessed the evolving landscape and competitive pressures in our industry. What we learned convinced us that developing explicit human rights policies and processes for our Company and suppliers was not only the right thing to do, but also a business imperative.
Human rights refers to basic standards of treatment to which all people are entitled. It is a broad concept, with economic, social, cultural, political and civil dimensions. For Ford, this means ensuring that our products, no matter where they are made, are manufactured under conditions that demonstrate respect for the people who make them. It also means respecting the rights of people living in the communities around our facilities, and those of our suppliers, who may be affected by these operations.
