Human dignity is one of the Catholic’s social teaching principles. BP applies this social teaching principle in the course of its operations. According to the stance assumed by the Catholic faith, human life has been put under risk and consequently jeopardized by the rapid decline in respect and value attached to materialism (‘Catholic Bishops’ par. 3). In other words, the world seems to value materialism more than the dignity and essence of human life. The Catholic Church strongly believes that the moral vision of society is strongly embedded in the dignity of individuals bearing in mind that human life is sacred (Kaczor par. 4). Hence, human dignity should always be given the first priority before pursuing other life purposes. In addition, a human being has some great degree of inherent dignity that should not be overridden by the deteriorating morals or value for materialism. The Catholic faith also asserts that the foundation of all its social teachings is strongly rooted in human dignity.
BP is a global company that deals with both oil and gas. It is among the pace setters and market leaders in the oil industry. As already mentioned, the company practices the catholic social teaching principle of human dignity in its daily operations. As it stands now, the number of employees working for the company stands at about 90,000 across the globe.
Human rights policy is clearly embedded as one of the operating principles of his oil marketing company. The company aims to elevate the importance of dignity, respect, and fairness to all of its stakeholders including employees. A statement at the company’s website emphasizes that there is a code for human rights policy that directs its conduct on how to handle people working at the facility. Everybody who relate with BP in one way or another should also be treated with utmost fairness and respect at all times (‘Human Rights Policy’ par. 5).
It is also crucial to mention that every officer and employee working at BP is fully covered by the policy. Besides, joint ventures and entities that are fully owned by BP are taken care of by the code of conduct related to human dignity. This implies that the level of participation of the company should be in tandem with the code of conduct for human dignity. From the human rights policy adopted by BP, a number of key commitments can be pointed out.
To begin with, the company abides by all the legal requirements in the course of its operations in order to safeguard the rights and dignity of its employees and other people attached the company. Second, human rights codes that have been recognized internationally are respected by the company. Hence, the laws put forward by the International Labor Organization and the International Bill of Human Rights are fully adhered to by the BP oil company. The company also agrees that it has the core responsibility to dignify human rights according to the provisions of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Fairness and indiscriminate treatment of all individuals who work for the company is a regular practice valued by BP Oil Company. The company is also keen to make contractual commitments with all of its stakeholders so that it does not lose track in its dedication to respect human dignity at workplace.
Works Cited
Catholic Bishops. 2014. Web.
Human Rights Policy. 2014. Web.
Kaczor, Christopher. Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. 2014. Web.