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Human Rights

Human Rights

Our Commitment to Human Rights

At Lockheed Martin, we believe that being a responsible corporate citizen includes a commitment to the protection and advancement of human rights. This commitment forms the basis of our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and is embedded in our core values to do what’s right, respect others and perform with excellence.

Respect for human rights across our business, operations and supply chain is the responsibility of all employees, our board of directors, our suppliers and others who act on our behalf. Lockheed Martin’s activities are conducted in compliance with the laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate, except where such laws conflict with U.S. law, and our compliance with them is reinforced by our robust integrated assurance program and board of directors’ oversight of our human rights activities and enterprise risk management process. Governance of our human rights program follows the top-down accountability structure of our sustainability governance processes.

The broad scope of our company’s policies and procedures reflects the multiple touchpoints with recognized human rights principles that guide our behaviors and operations:

Based on our policies and Code of Conduct, our Supplier Code of Conduct describes the expectations that we place on our suppliers and partners.

Ensuring Human Rights Training for All Employees

Mandatory employee training across a wide range of human rights topics is an integral component of our commitments and ongoing due diligence processes. Training includes periodic review and certification to the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, annual ethics awareness training, Conflict of Interest and Business Conduct training compliance modules (including Combating Trafficking in Persons, International Business Practices and Gifts/Business Courtesies). All employees certify to the Code of Conduct and complete annual ethics awareness training; other compliance training is assigned to target audiences based on their roles.

Lockheed Martin operates in more than 50 countries. Our more than 6,000 international employees are dedicated to realizing our shared goals, including efforts to further human rights principles across our enterprise. These efforts include mandatory employee training on a wide range of human rights principles. To help ensure currency and relevancy, we tailor programs to incorporate legal and regulatory requirements of individual countries or regions.

For example, every four years, our U.K. employees are required to complete a U.K. Modern Slavery Act compliance training, which consists of a video created by our U.K. Ethics team. The video covers relevant elements of U.S. human trafficking and U.K. Modern Slavery Act 2015 legislation. It also identifies red flags and warning signs that may indicate modern slavery in our U.K. business and our global supply chain, and highlights employee reporting mechanisms and responsibilities. In 2023, this video was rolled out to all 1,600 Lockheed Martin U.K. employees.

Our internal ethics webpage provides resources for expatriates, such as human trafficking awareness and expectations on anti-corruption and gifts. Our internal global mobility webpage contains additional mandatory training on our global values and other ethics materials.

Assessing Human Trafficking Supply Chain Risk

Lockheed Martin has robust policies and practices in place that establish the requirements for compliance with the U.S. Government’s policy prohibiting trafficking in persons and trafficking-related activities. We maintain a compliance plan for combating trafficking in persons for any portion of a contract, in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 52.222-50) and Executive Order 13627, Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts.

In 2019, we established an annual Human Trafficking Supply Chain Human Rights Assessment. The assessment uses the U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report and overlays our internal procurement data. A dashboard allows all supply chain professionals to analyze this human rights risk in certain regions of the world and determine if there are any active suppliers in those areas. The dashboard also integrates Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index and provides an additional view of each country’s perceived level of corruption in its public sector. This assessment report is provided annually and is updated per the new U.S. Department of State report and our new purchase order commitments for the year. An analysis then compares to previous years to ensure that we minimize any adverse  impact from our operations in  human trafficking regions.

In 2023, we saw a slight increase from 10 to 12 suppliers in high-risk regions compared to 2022, and the total purchase order commitments to high-risk regions remains 0.01%. When compared to 2020, we have decreased the number of suppliers in high-risk regions by 63% and decreased commitments in the same regions by 68%. In efforts to reduce risk, we are actively developing new capabilities such as a sector-wide sustainability assessment program that can identify supply chain vulnerabilities throughout the procurement cycle.

Evolving Our Company’s Human Rights Approach

Our company’s respect for human rights is at the heart of what we do and lays the foundation for our core values and ethical standards. Our enterprise approach to human rights aligns with our mission to provide 21st Century Security through our innovative technology, products and services that deliver the most advanced deterrence capability to our customers around the world. We solve complex challenges, advance scientific discovery and deliver groundbreaking solutions that help our customers keep people safe.

The global environment in which we operate is dynamic, meaning that human rights risks and challenges are constantly evolving. While our commitment to respecting human rights remains steadfast, our approach to human rights is also evolving to ensure that we continue supporting the human rights of our employees, our customers, and all whom they serve.

In November 2023, we completed the second phase of a comprehensive benchmarking of human rights policies, international human rights standards and regulation as part of our multi-year review of our company’s human rights framework. We identified several focus areas for further analysis, including:

  • Potentially integrating current and relevant core human rights principles and standards across our company, supply chain and products.
  • Assessing emerging human rights risks relevant to our business across the impact lifecycle.
  • Effectively communicating our human rights policy through engagement with stakeholders.

In December 2023, we formed a cross-functional Human Rights Focus Group, which is jointly led by our Legal and Sustainability teams. This group will examine strategies for evolution of our human rights program and policies. It will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to stay informed on human rights initiatives, best practices, and issues, and it will report progress regularly to members of the executive management team.

Last updated: April 2024