The Volkswagen Group welcomes the increased interest in the dynamic field of business and human rights and the new depth of benchmarks and ratings. We thus appreciate the snapshot benchmark by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, and support the upcoming Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB).

We highly welcome an intensive dialogue with our stakeholders: Our own employees, customers, suppliers, business partners and our local neighbours are essential for this dialogue. This also includes a constructive exchange with organizations representing social interests. This is underlined by an ambition not only to be a responsible corporate citizen but also to achieve insights into external perceptions of Volkswagen's own activities.

The Volkswagen Group is currently formally integrating its group-wide human rights due diligence approach into its compliance management system. We acknowledge our corporate human rights responsibility especially in line with the UN Guiding Principles for Business & Human Rights. Here, we also build upon a long tradition for example in the area of good working conditions together with our social partners. The so-called “international bill of human rights” and the ILO core conventions form the material basis for our human rights due diligence. At the same time, we pay close attention to the new legislative trends in the area of business & human rights. For example, you can access our most recent statement under the UK Modern Slavery Act (https://www.volkswagenag.com/presence/nachhaltigkeit/documents/policy-intern/SHTS_2019_englisch_unterschrieben.pdf).

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