Human rights include the right to life, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination. Downer will not tolerate any form of human rights abuse, including modern slavery, in our operations and supply chain.

Downer is committed to:

  • In assessing its modern slavery risk in its supply chain and operations, being guided by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ,  UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 
  • Adhering to all applicable laws and regulations established in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia that identify and reduce the occurrence of modern slavery and worker exploitation
  • Rejecting activities which may cause or contribute to, forced or bonded labour, child labour, human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced marriage or deceptive recruiting for labour or services (modern slavery and worker exploitation), including taking appropriate measures and implementing processes to identify, assess, prevent and mitigate, and monitor risks of modern slavery and worker exploitation in our supply chain and operations.  

Downer is committed to operating responsibly and establishing and adhering to high ethical and social standards. Downer welcomes the opportunity to release our Modern Slavery Statement annually, which outlines our approach to address and minimise the risk of modern slavery in our business operations and supply chains.

Downer’s Standards of Business Conduct, which is supported by extensive policies, procedures and processes, has been put in place to help minimise this risk. This is further underpinned by a robust governance process and Downer’s Business Integrity policy. Ensuring that modern slavery is not taking place in Downer’s workforce, which includes our supply chain beyond our direct suppliers, is challenging given the diversity of our service offerings and locations. However, Downer has designed and implemented a risk-based approach and is committed to continuously improving our processes.

This includes engaging with our direct suppliers to educate, assess and encourage improvement in their own capacity to manage modern slavery risks within their broader supply chains.

We will continue to collaborate with our internal and external stakeholders to address our own modern slavery risks and continue to improve our processes.

Click here to view Downer's Modern Slavery Reports