It is part of our purpose and values to respect and observe human rights and, where it lies within our sphere of influence, to avoid or prevent violations as far as possible. In affirming this, we are in line with the "UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" and the "National Action Plans" derived from them, which we apply within our company.
With our policy statement, we recognise our responsibility to respect human rights and apply entrepreneurial diligence with regard to these rights.
We support various initiatives that take the issue of human rights into account. These include the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN Global Compact, the Principles for Sustainable Insurance and the Principles for Responsible Investment.
At Hannover Re, the topic of human rights affects the following four areas:
Reinsurance
With regard to our underwriting activities, we take a differentiated view of our facultative and obligatory reinsurance business.
In our facultative reinsurance business, we have identified the greatest risk of potential impacts on human rights in the following particularly exposed areas: large construction projects (including dams, mines, and pipelines), the operation of mines as well as companies associated with internationally controversial weapons. To tackle such risks, our facultative division has adopted an ESG manual and trained facultative underwriters worldwide on it.
In our obligatory reinsurance business, we are in the process of intensifying the dialogue with our clients in order to obtain a more precise overview of the insured risks of these contracts. In 2022, an internal position paper was adopted for the entire non-life reinsurance sector, which also addresses the topic of human rights.
Asset Management
Within our self-managed investments, all fixed-income securities as well as listed equities are subject to half-yearly negative screening with the aim of identifying human rights violations, among other ESG concerns.
Suppliers
We address the issue of human rights with our Third Party Code of Conduct. Among other things, the Code requires compliance with legal and ethical provisions, respect for human rights including compliance with the core labour standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and compliance with all applicable regulations in the areas of health, safety and environmental protection. When it comes to the observance of human rights, this excludes forced labour, human trafficking, involuntary working and other forms of so-called modern slavery.
For further information we would refer to our Third Party Code of Conduct and our statement on the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 as well as our statement on the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Australia).
Employees
Our employees are a key factor in our own success as a company. The promotion of fair working conditions and a healthy and non-discriminatory working environment is part of our corporate culture.
Given that our employees are highly skilled personnel and we attach the highest priority to compliance with applicable national, collective bargaining and company rules, we do not see any risk of serious breaches of human rights. Issues such as discrimination, equal opportunities and harassment nevertheless require continuous attention and monitoring. We manage these issues through our human resources management structure and our company-wide Code of Conduct as well as through strict compliance with legal data protection requirements.