Human Rights

The Group has set out its principles and guidelines to manage the human rights impacts of its business activities in the Code of Ethics and Sustainability Policy, in accordance with the undertakings taken on by joining the Global Compact of the United Nations and UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance and UN Principles for Responsible Investment.

The commitment to human rights was explicitly incorporated in many of the ESG policies that integrate the ESG factors into the business activities, as specified in the Life/Non-Life underwriting ESG Policy in the Guidelines for responsible investing and in the Supplier Code of Conduct.

The risks connected with determination of the Negative Impacts on Human Rights, along with other ESG risks, are incorporated into the ERM framework and included in the classification system of the common risks for the entire Group, defined by the risk management policy.

The identification and assessment of the current and potential negative impacts on Human Rights are subject to a systematic, structured and regularly repeated process that calls for internal analysis tools and the incorporation of external sources to ensure broad, prompt oversight (the “identification and evaluation process”).

Unipol uses these evaluations to identify its priorities in terms of the prevention and mitigation of the negative impacts on Human Rights that could be linked to its operations and its products and services in accordance with the severity and probability of negative impact.

Even though all the areas are treated fairly, and efforts are made toward identifying all the potential breaches, Unipol focuses on human rights issues where there could be the worst possible negative impacts.

The activities under observation with different areas of impact are set out below:

Direct Impacts

  • Relations with Employees and Workers
  • Relations with Customers
  • Relations with Agents, Brokers and Business Associates

Indirect Impacts

  • Insurance Customers
  • Investments Relations with Agents
  • Relations with Suppliers and Business Partners

The Group adopted, or is in the process of adopting, further preventive or corrective measures besides the above-mentioned policies and Codes, in all the various areas. These measures include:

  • Organisation, Management and Control Model (MOG) and implementation of Procedure for reporting breaches (whistleblowing) that encourages employees to make reports about unlawful behaviour governed by Decree 231/01, i.e. actions or facts that could breach the Organisation, Management and Control Model (MOG);
  • industry policies and agreements and additions that guarantee healthcare and financial services to employees, trade union representation and the tackling of any types of discrimination;
  • Policy on the protection and value of personal data and further internal rules in this area;
  • Procedures relating to the performance of clinical activities and Procedure to manage clinical risk;

Unipol reports the results reached in the protection of human rights in terms of risks and impacts identified, evaluation activities and prevention and mitigation actions and monitoring mechanisms in the non-financial declaration contained in the Annual Integrated Report and the Sustainability Report of UnipolSai.

The Group, within the scope of its due diligence structuring approach, undertakes to produce a summarised report of the results of the systematic application of due diligence in the area of ESG every year, with a special focus on the area of Human Rights among others.