Human Rights

Enbridge supports universal human rights. This is one of our core corporate social responsibility principles and we are reinforcing this with comprehensive policies and practices addressing human rights.

Top of pageEnbridge and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights

Enbridge was one of the first Canadian companies to adopt the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, which were launched in 2000 through a multi-stakeholder process initially convened by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom. Participating non-governmental organizations included Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The Voluntary Principles stress the importance of promoting and protecting human rights throughout the world and the constructive role business and civil society – including nongovernmental organizations, labour and trade unions, and local communities – can play in advancing these goals. The Voluntary Principles guide companies in maintaining the safety and security of their operations within an operating framework that ensures respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Voluntary Principles are now an integral part of our comprehensive Statement of Business Conduct, Weblink which applies to everyone working for us – our employees, our senior management team and our Board of Directors. All of them are required to read and sign our Statement of Business Conduct annually as a condition of employment.

Responsibility for human rights is also part of the mandate of our Board of Directors’ CSR Committee, which provides strategic oversight to senior management on CSR issues.

Top of pageUnited Nations Global Compact

Enbridge is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, which brings companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption. Regarding human rights, the principles state that businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Top of pageHuman Rights in Columbia

Enbridge owns 24.7 per cent of Oleoducto Central S.A. (OCENSA), a consortium that built Colombia’s largest liquids pipeline system, which stretches from oilfields in the central interior of the country to the Caribbean coast.

Enbridge operates and provides technical and management services to the pipeline and in cooperation with our OCENSA partners we have taken action to create awareness, understanding and respect for human rights in Colombia, a long-established democracy but also a country with an ongoing conflict involving guerilla rebel groups and paramilitary groups.

OCENSA adopted a detailed Human Rights Policy and Code of Conduct in 2004 for all employees to follow. The Human Rights Policy specifically commits OCENSA to respect human rights, and obligates employees and contractors to reject violence and to avoid associating with any of the illegal armed groups that are fuelling Colombia’s civil war. OCENSA’s Code of Conduct reinforces the Human Rights Policy. All OCENSA employees are required to sign the code annually to indicate their understanding and acceptance of the code.

OCENSA has appointed a Human Rights Coordinator, who tracks and audits the company’s human rights practices and monitors employees’ and contractors’ compliance with the Human Rights Policy.

OCENSA also implemented an extensive education and awareness program on human rights and social issues. The training program is conducted by Costa Rica’s Center for Studies in Human Rights and focuses on increasing understanding of rights and obligations under international humanitarian law and the constitution of Colombia. This program is directed at a wide audience – not only OCENSA employees and contractors, but also Colombian communities and the military.

The OCENSA pipeline traverses an extensive portion of Colombia’s geography, which includes zones of conflict. The Colombian constitution requires energy companies to establish contracts with military personnel as part of the government’s obligation to protect the people who live and work in Colombia, as well as to protect the infrastructure and the resources. Close to 1,000 soldiers, airmen and marines who are stationed near OCENSA’s pipeline assets have participated in our human rights awareness training programs.

OCENSA has also conducted human rights workshops and meetings with community leaders in communities along our pipeline right-of-way. Moreover, through a strategic alliance that OCENSA has with Colombia’s National Ombudsman’s Office, 448 teachers at 50 schools have been trained and qualified to teach human rights. As a result of this program, 4,750 children from 25 municipalities are now receiving education about human rights.