At Novo Nordisk we believe that commercial activities can in many ways make a significant contribution to the understanding of democratic values, human rights and sustainable development. Today, Novo Nordisk does not have a formal approach to human rights. Over the coming years, we will explore how best to integrate human rights into our policies and practices throughout the company worldwide. We have asked external human rights experts to perform a study on Novo Nordisk. This study was started up at the end of 1998 and the conclusions are expected by mid-1999.

The question of human rights relates to virtually all aspects of our business. It is a matter of respecting employees and providing safe and healthy working conditions ­ the starting point of this report. Human rights are also a question of the way we interact with suppliers, customers, local communities, authorities and other external stakeholders.

We support the United Nations' declaration on human rights. Human rights must be respected and promoted throughout the world. Observing human rights is an important part of conducting our business as responsible citizens. Our approach will seek to align the company with the vision of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a way that has practical meaning for the way we work.

"The General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction."
United Nations General Assembly, 10 December 1948.

A human rights study
Human rights issues have an important impact on our investments and commercial activities. We believe the right thing to do is to identify and adopt international standards for human rights and our aim is to integrate these standards at all levels of our organisation and into every corporate decision.

We want to learn more about human rights issues and the role of Novo Nordisk in this respect. We have therefore commissioned two human rights experts who will help us explore these issues during 1999. More specifically, we will try to map potential human rights issues for Novo Nordisk, given our production, sales principles and methods, and our geographical locations. In each case, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will be analysed. Initially we will evaluate our activities in Algeria, Brazil, China and India as these represent a selection of relevant production and distribution scenarios.

1999 target:

Define the issues and scope of a human rights strategy.

Define a model for stakeholder dialogue and involvement.

Stakeholder dialogue
Part of the project is to identify relevant stakeholders within human rights whom we intend to invite into a dialogue.

We commit ourselves over the coming years to develop a company-wide approach to human rights. Our human rights project intends to provide us with the necessary guidance to enable us to live up to this commitment.

Responsible neighbours

From patient to person