Human Rights

Driving transparency, regulatory compliance and responsible business practices to respect and protect fundamental human rights.

Our Approach

To help us successfully deliver on our company purpose, we do our part to help promote basic human rights in our operations and supply chain. We respect and honor human rights and comply with all relevant laws and regulations.

Our efforts are guided by our company-wide Human Rights Policy, which is based on internationally recognized principles and guidelines. We socialize the policy widely, including through communications with policymakers, via the AT&T Supplier Portal and in other supplier-facing materials.

Four other globally applicable policies reinforce our human rights stance:

Understanding Our Issues

Guided by frameworks such as the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), we assess a broad range of potential human rights risks across our operations and value chain when entering new markets or jurisdictions, acquiring new companies or business lines or developing new products or services. To incorporate diverse perspectives, we consider a wide range of stakeholders including employees, suppliers, rights holders and potentially affected parties, and civil society organizations—when identifying, assessing and mitigating our most salient human rights risks.

Issue	Approach
Privacy	Protecting customers’ data is fundamental to how we operate. We implement data protection and offer consumers choices with respect to their personal information. For more information on our approach to privacy, see our Privacy issue brief.
Non-Discrimination	Our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) & Anti-Harassment Policy prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, pregnancy, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Freedom of Expression and Access to Information	Our approach to freedom of expression and access to information includes: Our Users: We respect and protect users’ rights to hold and freely share opinions and access a full range of ideas and information. We believe restrictions on lawful freedom of expression using communications services and the internet will diminish their usefulness, impede idea exchange and reduce innovation and commercial opportunities. Our Services: If we were to receive a government order to shut down or restrict access to any communications networks or services, we would evaluate its legality and strive to minimize any impact on customers’ freedom of expression. International Customers: In countries outside the U.S. where AT&T provides telecommunications and internet services, we may receive legal demands from governments to block access to certain websites or to provide customer information. We do not respond to such requests from any foreign or domestic individuals, private entities or self-regulatory bodies unless we receive a valid legal demand. For more information on our freedom of expression efforts, view AT&T’s Commitment to Digital Rights. For information on legal demands we have responded to, view our semiannual Transparency Report.
Child Rights	To safeguard children from harmful content, we provide online safety tools for parents and guardians and work with organizations dedicated to the protection of children online. Our approach includes: Policies and Systems: We regularly evolve our policies and systems to keep pace with the ever-evolving threats to online safety and children’s rights, including the launching of the AT&T Children’s Privacy Notice that covers the data collected from certain products and services used by children. This includes an assessment of how we manage our facilities and assets and how we develop, market and deliver products and services. Online Safety: We are aware of the complex risks related to potential online child exploitation and child sexual abuse material. We remain involved in advocating for solutions and engaging with companies to drive progress. This includes maintaining membership with the WeProtect Global Alliance and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to understand how technology can be used to promote children’s online safety. Education and Resources: Through AT&T ScreenReady®, we provide digital literacy, digital parenting and online safety resources to help kids and families make safe and positive connections on all screens. Learn more in our Digital Divide issue brief. Calling Home Program: In Mexico, we continued our Calling Home program, which aligns with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and provides free telephone calls to migrants leaving their home countries to let loved ones know they are safe. Learn more in the AT&T Mexico Sustainability Report.

Human Rights in the Supply Chain

When it comes to human rights, we hold our suppliers to the same standards we hold ourselves. Our Principles of Conduct for Suppliers establish expectations related to competitive pay, overtime and acceptable living conditions and prohibits:

Modern slavery
Involuntary labor
Child labor
Prison labor
Debt bondage
Indentured or forced labor

We maintain contract clauses that legally bind suppliers to adhere to programs in a manner consistent with AT&T policies such as our Principles of Conduct for Suppliers and Human Rights Policy.

We conduct audits through our membership in the Joint Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility (JAC) as well as annual assessments on environmental and citizenship issues through EcoVadis to evaluate suppliers on human rights issues. We work with suppliers to address the corrective actions that arise as a result.

For more information on how we uphold our supply chain standards, please visit our Responsible Supply Chain issue brief, as well as our Modern Slavery Statement.

Human Rights Governance

Cross-company executives are responsible for governing and implementing our Human Rights Policy. Various executives also collaborate to identify and mitigate potential human rights risks, including:

Head of Corporate Responsibility: Oversees the AT&T Human Rights Policy. The Head of Corporate Responsibility reports on any relevant and timely corporate responsibility issues, including human rights, to the Board of Directors’ Governance and Policy Committee periodically throughout the year as deemed appropriate.
Corporate Responsibility Governance Council: Comprises executive leaders responsible for business areas most closely linked to our corporate responsibility priorities.
Human Rights Committee: Led by Corporate Responsibility executives and comprising subject matter experts from our Global Public Policy, Legal, Human Resources, Privacy, Consumer and Global Supply Chain organizations. The committee is responsible for human rights due diligence and for implementing the AT&T Human Rights Policy.

Stakeholder Engagement

We work with various groups to protect human rights wherever we operate, explain our points of view, share best practices, learn from our peers and identify industry-specific issues.

BSR Human Rights Working Group (HRWG): AT&T is a member of BSR’s HRWG to share best practices, challenges, questions and experiences around implementing the UNGP.
Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT): AT&T participates in various CDT working groups addressing issues that affect human rights and freedom of expression on the internet.
Global enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI): AT&T participates in GeSI’s Human Rights Working Group to pursue a practical means of implementing the UNGP across the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The working group is also coordinating GeSI’s involvement in the European Commission’s project to develop human rights guidance for the ICT sector.
Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA): AT&T participates in GSMA’s Sustainability Network to address salient human rights issues for mobile operators.
Joint Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibility (JAC): AT&T sits on JAC’s Board of Directors to help promote decisive action and progress.

Addressing and Remedying Grievances

AT&T takes seriously the concerns of our many stakeholders and works to address them in a responsible and accountable manner. We have policies and procedures in place to address grievances, as referenced in our Code of Conduct, Consumer Service Agreement for wireless and internet customers, Privacy Notice and Principles of Conduct for Suppliers.

AT&T’s Speak Up portal is available to employees and vendors in the U.S. and internationally, offering a hotline and online portal that allow anonymous reporting of suspected or actual violations of the company’s Code of Conduct and other workplace policies. Learn more about Speak Up in our Ethics & Integrity issue brief.