Cisco’s Dedication to Human Rights: A Tribute to the seventy fifth Anniversary of the Common Declaration of Human Rights

December 10 marked the seventy fifth anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Common Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a landmark doc that for the primary time acknowledged human rights and freedoms are inherent to all people, no matter nationality, ethnicity, faith, or every other standing. For Cisco, as we work to securely join all the things to make something attainable, this anniversary is a chance to replicate on the intersection between expertise and human rights.

Since our inception practically 40 years in the past, Cisco expertise has helped clients and companions make infrastructure stronger, monetary companies safer, transportation safer, and first responders quicker. However whilst expertise creates unmatched alternative and potential for society, we acknowledge the inherent threat of expertise being misused. Navigating this stability – securely connecting billions of individuals whereas respecting human rights – is core to who we’re at Cisco.

We consider it’s incumbent on us to combine respect for human rights into our operations, insurance policies, and decision-making processes – and importantly – adapt our strategy in alignment with the altering expertise panorama. Listed here are just a few examples of the way in which Cisco has developed to handle the issues we face within the digital age.

Cisco’s World Human Rights Coverage was first adopted in 2012 and is up to date on an annual foundation. The coverage publicly states Cisco’s dedication to respect all internationally acknowledged human rights articulated within the Common Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Worldwide Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Worldwide Covenant on Financial, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the eight core Worldwide Labour Group (ILO) conventions.

In 2018, we shared our Human Rights Place Statements documenting Cisco’s perspective on encryption, knowledge localization and sovereignty, surveillance by governments, web of issues, huge knowledge analytics, and synthetic intelligence. We additionally constructed our Enterprise & Human Rights staff, answerable for setting Cisco’s human rights technique and embedding human rights due diligence to handle potential impacts to human rights in any respect phases of our price chain.

In 2020, we created our Human Rights Advisory Committee, a cross-functional group of senior leaders throughout Cisco’s enterprise that advises the BHR staff on points associated to Cisco’s assist of and respect for human rights. The Human Rights Advisory Committee meets on a quarterly foundation to debate rising human rights dangers and alternatives and Cisco’s work to handle them.

We additionally interact with suppliers globally to drive conformance to our human rights insurance policies. As a founding member of the Accountable Enterprise Alliance (RBA), Cisco adopted the RBA Code of Conduct as its Provider Code of Conduct. This Code units requirements for labor, well being and security, setting, ethics, and administration methods. This previous yr, our audits coated the working circumstances of greater than 446,000 employees, and our packages helped give employees a voice on well being and security, bonded labor, and accountable mining.

In 2023, we launched a brand new Environmental, Social, and Public Coverage Committee of our Board of Administrators. A part of the Committee’s obligation is to strategize and govern our strategy to human rights, reflecting the growing significance of and a spotlight to those points on the highest ranges of our firm.

We consider transparency round our commitments to respecting human rights is arguably simply as essential because the insurance policies, frameworks, and pointers we’ve put in place. Being clear not solely provides our clients and workforce the boldness to belief us, nevertheless it additionally helps us to repeatedly study and enhance.

So, as we acknowledge the anniversary of UNDHR, I’m happy to share each our FY2023 Cisco Function Report and Cisco ESG Reporting Hub – highlighting Cisco’s ongoing strategy to respecting human rights as we work to energy a extra inclusive future for all.

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