Human rights as guiding principle

Deutsche Bank’s commitment to respecting human rights is long-standing, having voluntarily endorsed and aligned with international standards along the way. While it remains the governments’ legal obligation to protect against human rights abuses by persons, including businesses, through appropriate policies, legislation, and adjudication, Deutsche Bank acknowledges its corporate responsibility pursuant to the  “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Deutsche Bank regards fundamental human rights to be universal, as these are recognized and defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Implementing human rights laws and embedding international human rights standards within a global financial institution is a complex task. In achieving this task, Deutsche Bank is guided by

• the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
• the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (including its Core Labour Standards).
• the UN Global Compact

We aim to continually improve our approach to, and the internal guidance on, human rights issues. A number of our core internal policies, including the Deutsche Bank Code of Conduct as well as our policies and guidelines like our Environmental and Social Policy Framework, reflect our commitment to respect human rights.

Our approach to human rights covers all dimensions of our business from client transactions to interaction with vendors and service providers and to how we treat our own employees. Our principle is not to engage in any business activities where Deutsche Bank has substantiated evidence of material adverse human rights impacts and where it is determined through the bank’s internal processes that such adverse human rights impacts cannot be avoided or appropriately mitigated.

Respecting human rights and combatting human trafficking and modern slavery as a global bank is a highly complex subject and requires us to continually broaden our knowledge and review our policies and related due diligence processes. Remaining abreast of the latest insights and developments demands that we proactively and regularly scrutinize our policies and procedures, with input from our stakeholders.

To further develop the bank’s human rights management approach, Deutsche Bank uses and connects a range of information and sources, including in-house research, Deutsche Bank’s various complaints channels, media reports, dialog with individual business partners, consultation with independent experts, and ongoing discussion with peers on general trends and developments. Deutsche Bank’s human rights governance benefits from the exchange of ideas and experiences afforded by its membership in the Thun Group of Banks, which Deutsche Bank joined in 2012.