Policy of Respect for Human Rights

GMI Consulting’s  Human Rights Respect Policy is based  on the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and particularly on the contents of  the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Implementation of the United Nations Framework to “Protect, Respect and Remedy“  of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner, which aims to improve standards and practices in relation to business and human rights in order to obtain tangible results for potentially affected individuals and communities, and thus contribute to a socially sustainable globalization. These Principles recognize the role of companies as organs of society that perform specialized functions that must comply with all applicable laws of the country in which they operate, and respect the human rights of all those with whom they interact.

The Guiding Principles should be applied in a non-discriminatory manner, paying particular attention to the rights, needs and problems of persons belonging to groups or populations at increased risk of vulnerability or marginalization, and with due regard to the differentiated risks that women and men may face.

In order to establish the commitment of Senior Management to respect human rights, the following Declaration of Commitments has been issued:

Declaration of Commitments

1. GMI is committed to respecting human rights. The Firm in an institutional manner and all the collaborators that integrate it will refrain from infringing the human rights of the collaborators themselves or of third parties. GMI Consulting is committed to addressing the negative human rights consequences in which it has some involvement.

2. The responsibility of GMI Consulting to respect human rights refers to the human rights recognized by the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the international treaties to which the Mexican Stateis a party. These rights include, at a minimum, the rights set forth in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles relating to fundamental rights set out in the International Labour Organization Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at Work.

Special care shall be taken to respect the human rights of indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples and communities, women, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, children, older adults, persons with disabilities and migrant workers and their families; and any other group or person in a situation of vulnerability.

3. Within the responsibility to respect human rights, GMI Consulting is committed to:

a) Prevent GMI Consulting’s own activities from causing or contributing to negative consequences on human rights and address, depending on the characteristics and circumstances of the Firm, such consequences when they occur;

b) Prevent or mitigate negative consequences on human rights directly related to the operations, products or services provided by this Firm; extending it to the extent of its possibilities to its value chain and commercial relationships.

4. GMI Consulting’s responsibility to respect human rights applies to each of its areas, considering that the responsibility of each of them may vary depending on the type of work it performs.

5. To fulfill its responsibility to respect human rights, this Firm has designed a Declaration of Ethics, a Code of Conduct and Responsibility, and a Policy for the Prevention of Violence and Sexual and Workplace Harassment. These guidelines seek to identify, prevent, mitigate or repair any negative consequences to human rights caused by any of its collaborators.

6. To assume responsibility for respecting human rights, GMI Consulting is committed to disseminating its internal human rights policies to all its staff and business partners, and will endeavour to do so with respect to other stakeholders.

7. In order to identify, prevent, mitigate and respond to the negative consequences (actual and potential) of its activities on human rights, GMI Consulting has carried out an evaluation of the actual and potential impact of its activities on the human rights of all those with whom it interacts, particularly from communities in vulnerable situations.

8. In order to gauge human rights risks, GMI Consulting will assess the human rights context in the localities where it operates before embarking on its activity; and whenever possible it will identify potential victims, catalogue relevant human rights standards and issues, and project the human rights implications of its activities. In this process, it will pay particular attention to the specific consequences on the human rights of persons belonging to groups or populations at increased risk of vulnerability or marginalization, and will take into account the different differentiated risks that women and men may face, always applying a gender perspective in all their activities.

9. To prevent and mitigate negative human rights impacts, GMI Consulting will integrate the findings of its potential human rights impact assessments into relevant internal functions and processes, and take appropriate measures to prevent them.

10. In order to verify whether measures are being taken to prevent negative human rights impacts, GMI Consulting will monitor the effectiveness of its response based on indicators appropriate to the scale of its operations, and taking into account feedback from both internal and external sources, including affected parties where appropriate.

11. To explain the measures taken to address the human rights implications of its activities, GMI Consulting will be adequately prepared to communicate them to the outside when concerns are raised by affected persons or their representatives. Communications shall meet the following conditions:

a) Reflect the impact of the company’s activities on human rights in a manner accessible to their target audiences;

b) Provide sufficient information to assess the adequacy of the response to specific human rights implications;

c) It will not put affected parties or staff at risk, and will not violate legitimate confidentiality requirements.

12. If GMI Consulting determines that its activity has caused or contributed to provoke negative consequences in terms of Human Rights, it must initiate processes aimed at repairing the negative consequence it would have caused on human rights and the substantive results that can counteract or compensate for that negative consequence.  These results may take various forms such as apologies, restitution, rehabilitation, economic or non-economic compensation and comply with the resolutions imposed by the competent authorities, as well as measures to prevent further damage and guarantees of non-repetition.

13. In any context, GMI Consulting is committed to:

a) Comply with all applicable laws of the country in which it operates and establish protocols for the respect of internationally recognized human rights wherever it operates;

b) Consider the risk of provoking or contributing to human rights violations;

c) Establish internal protocols for the resolution of disputes when faced with conflicting demands;

d) Seek to extend this policy to its commercial relations and its entire value chain.

14. Where it is necessary to prioritize measures to address actual or potential negative human rights consequences, GMI Consulting will focus on preventing and mitigating consequences that are more serious or may be irreversible if they do not receive an immediate response.