Our Human Rights Policy

WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS? 

Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

Human Rights are defined internationally by organisations like the UN, and also across Europe through the EU, and where we are based in the UK, we have the Human Rights Act too. We aim to help across all of them as best we can.

At Startup Sherpas we aim to bring opportunities to young people that will allow them to find that life and liberty that we all deserve through the power of education.

We focus on helping young people learn innovation and entrepreneurship, which in turn gives them the skills they need to thrive and flourish in today’s world.

At the same time as learning skills, we know that the young people taking part in our programmes will add value to the companies that sponsor us, and we believe strongly that everyone, regardless of age, should be paid for the work that they do.

As a result, we are the first fully paid work experience provider (that we know of!).

Most importantly, Startup Sherpas has put a huge amount of time and energy into how we can help bring more diversity to programmes like ours, and open up opportunities to those who have differences. We celebrate and cheer on those differences, since innovation is all about creativity, and creativity thrives where there is diversity.

Our commitment...

  1. We conduct our business in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of all people, complying with all legal requirements.
  2. We respect internationally recognized human rights as set out in the International Bill of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act (UK).
  3. In meeting our responsibility to respect human rights, we consider relevant international human rights standards, including UN instruments establishing or elaborating on the rights of specific groups. We respect the rights of individuals belonging to groups or populations which may be particularly vulnerable to adverse impacts, including: indigenous people; women; national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities; children; LGBT+ people, people with disabilities; and migrant workers and their families.
  4. We treat everyone who works for Startup Sherpas fairly and without discrimination. Our employees, agency staff and suppliers are entitled to work in an environment and under conditions that respect their rights and dignity.
  5. We will abide by applicable domestic laws concerning non-interference in our workers’ right to form or join a trade union or to bargain collectively, as well as their right not to do so. Where our employees wish to be represented by trade unions or works councils, we will co-operate in good faith with the bodies that our employees collectively choose to represent them. In situations where freedom of association is restricted or prohibited by law, we will be open to and supportive of alternative means of worker representation and engagement.
  6. We seek to make contractual agreements with our suppliers that require them to respect internationally recognized human rights in their work with us, to ensure we hold the same values.