Petrobras

  Commitments  

At the end of 2003 Petrobras adhered to the United Nations Global Compact, a voluntary agreement by which companies worldwide agree to guarantee compliance with the principles relating to human rights, working conditions, and environment. The Executive Board at Petrobras approved the proposal by company President José Eduardo Dutra and the decision was communicated the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

When signing the UN's document, Petrobras committed to issue a declaration in support of the Global Compact, distributing it to employees, shareholders, clients and suppliers; to integrate the ten principles into its corporate development program; to incorporate these principles into the company's mission statement; to include the commitment in its annual report. It will have to inform the UN of a concrete example of the application of these principles one time per year.

In April 2006, the General Secretary of United Nations, Kofi Annam, nominated the Petrobras CEO, José Sergio Gabrielli, to be part of Global Compact Board, of the ONU, whose Board is comprised of four constituency groups - business, civil society, labor and the United Nations - with differentiated roles and responsibilities apart from their overall advisory function.

For 2006-2008 Petrobras was nominated for two vice-presidencies of the Global Pact Committees, next to two other Brazilian entities, the Ethos Institute (which is president of one committee) and Bovespa (that is also vice-president).

Kofi Annan introduced the idea for a pact between the UN and companies for the first time in 1999, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Global Compact was officially launched one year later. By September 2003, 1,240 companies from 55 countries had already joined the pact, led by France, with 180 companies, followed by Poland (176), Spain (126), Philippines (93), India (87), Brazil (76), United States (69) and Turkey (36).

Below are the Ten Principles of the Global Compact(*)(*)

Human Rights

Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights

Principle 2: Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Condiciones de Trabajo

Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

Principle 4: The elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

Principle 5: The effective abolition of child labour;

Principle 6: The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Medio Ambiente

Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;

Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;

Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies

Anti-Corruption

Principle 10: Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery.


(*) THE PRINCIPLES ARE DERIVED FROM THE FOLLOWING TREATIES:

Declaration of Universal Human Rights
International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development