Human Rights
 

We fundamentally believe that connectivity and the technology we provide are a social good that can support human rights and we acknowledge the responsibility that comes with this. Upholding human rights is a complex issue that covers not only the technology we provide, but also our partners, suppliers and our own operations. Therefore, we strive to continuously learn and improve, and we believe that engaging with the broader stakeholder community is the best way forward.

Our Human Rights Policy addresses our most salient risks related to the potential misuse of the technology we provide. Policies related to other areas of human rights, for example rights relating to fair labor practices, modern slavery and human trafficking, and environmental stewardship, are covered by other company policies (see the human rights framework table below). 

We are committed to respect and support the Human Rights principles and values laid out in the International Bill of Human Rights (consisting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its related covenants), the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, Organization for the Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

We have a Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) process that targets the potential misuse of the technology we provide. It is a pre-emptive process applied before any sale is made and is used to identify the possible risk level to human rights through potential misuse of our technology. The process examines a country’s long-term commitment to upholding Human Rights, the intended use of the technology in question and the customer type, to identify potential risks early in the process and trigger the required HRDD investigation and senior-level approval/denial review where needed.  

For country risk ratings, we use an external assessment provider. The HRDD triggers are a mandatory part of the sales approval process. Training, tracking results, communication of findings, checkpoints and triggers for the process are reviewed and, where needed, improved by the Head of Human Rights on an ongoing basis. 

To ensure best-in-class human rights mitigations, the HRDD process also went through an internal audit which began in 2022 and completed in 2023, providing findings that led to increased digitalization of the process. 

Nokia is a board member of the Global Network Initiative (GNI) and we work with other key industry stakeholders to increase transparency and learning. The GNI is a unique multi-stakeholder group involving leading ICT companies, investors, academics and civil society groups. Companies participating in GNI are independently assessed every two to three years on their progress in implementing the GNI Principles.  

We successfully completed our second independent assessment for the GNI, with the public report made available in 2023. In particular, the assessors highlighted Nokia’s strong human rights culture, noting that many issues are flagged and addressed informally even prior to surfacing during the formal process. They also praised our robust HRDD process, which encompasses relevant functions across the company with strong escalation mechanisms. 

Of the HRDD cases investigated in 2023, 96% of total cases  were resolved as “Go” or “Go with Conditions” 63% (2022:55%) and 33% (2022:31%) respectively and 4% as “No Go.” We have again published anonymized case examples below from our HRDD work in 2023 to provide insight and examples on the robustness of this process. We also embedded the HRDD process into our sales tools during 2023.