Respecting human rights

All humans are entitled to basic rights and freedom. Allianz recognizes the importance of human rights, as both a value-based and a business issue. We see respect for human rights as a minimum standard for responsible business, both within and beyond our direct operations.

At Allianz, we regard the respect for human rights as a minimum standard for responsible business. 

Allianz is committed to:

  • supporting and respecting the protection of international human rights
  • ensuring that Allianz is not complicit in human rights abuses.

The human rights that Allianz is committed to respecting are those agreed by governments in

  • the International Bill of Human Rights: this consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols.
  • the core International Labor Organization (ILO) Conventions: these include the prohibition of child labor and forced labor; freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; occupational health and safety; and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Allianz has been a member of the U.N. Global Compact (UNGC) since 2002 and uses the UNGC principles, including protection of human rights and adherence to labor standards, as guide for its business activities.

Allianz aims to identify, prevent, mitigate, or remediate adverse human rights impacts linked to our business activities and operations, including our supply chain. Our approach is  guided by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

We maintain a worldwide complaints mechanism that is accessible to all Allianz employees as well as other people whose rights might be affected by our business activities or those of our suppliers. 

At Allianz, we strive to continuously improve our human rights due diligence processes, including through monitoring by our Allianz Group Human Rights Officer.

As a corporate insurer and investor, our human rights due diligence process forms part of our overall sustainability approach, which is integrated into our broader risk management system. 

We use a combination of sector and country-specific approaches to identify human rights risks.

Human rights-related due diligence has been integrated into 13 sensitive business areas, where relevant, to ensure that human rights are part of the overall risk assessment for insurance and investments in non-listed asset classes. For business transactions in certain countries, where systematic human rights violations occur, we carry out explicit due diligence in accordance with our Human Rights Guideline.

Allianz SE, as the holding company of Allianz Group, has been subject to the German Supply Chain Act since 2023. We have built worldwide risk management systems in our own operations and supply chain. These include annual and ad-hoc analyses of human rights and certain environmental risks, appropriate preventive and remedial measures as well as extensive reporting, both to relevant Allianz decision-makers and the responsible regulator.

Own operations:  The Allianz Group Code of Conduct reflects our values and principles at Allianz and gives our employees guidance in their actions and decisions. As part of this Code of Conduct, we expect employees to support and adhere to human rights. At Allianz, we have implemented extensive measures to minimize risks to relevant human rights and labor standards in our own operations. These include: 
 

  • the integration of human rights and labor standards in our internal corporate rules, depending on local laws and requirements
  • anonymous feedback tools and surveys on issues such workload, wages and diversity
  • measures to ensure the physical safety of our employees as well as to improve their health and well-being.

More on Allianz as an employer on careers.allianz.com


Global supply chain: We at Allianz expect our suppliers to act with integrity and respect the rights of their own employees and other people who may be affected by the supplier’s business activities. To minimize human rights and environmental risks in our supply chain, we have extensive measures in place, including: 

  • the Allianz Vendor Code of Conduct that spells out our expectations towards our suppliers regarding human rights and employment standards 
  • the Allianz Sustainable Procurement Charter that provides guidance for both internal buyers and external suppliers 
  • the Allianz supplier onboarding process that contains additional questions on the human rights due diligence of certain suppliers. 

Through our focus on social inclusion, we support projects and initiatives that foster human rights around the world. Our international network of 11 Allianz-affiliated corporate foundations aim to help tackle societal challenges to safeguard the future for the next generations.