Human Rights Policy Commitments

I. Declaration

SENTINEL adheres to local statutes and international law on the protection of human rights in performing its duties as protection and security services provider. We are committed to respect, recognize, and promote human rights in our operations and in maintaining a work environment where rights are understood and respected; and human dignity is preserved.

SENTINEL will strictly adhere to local and international human rights instruments including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA) Code. Our guiding principles, systems and approaches are based on relevant treaties and conventions including the following:

• Montreux Document On Pertinent International Legal Obligations and Good Practices for States Related to Operations of Private Military and Security Companies During Armed Conflict (09/2008); and
• International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers (ICoC) (11/2010).
• Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework 2011.

II. Approach

This Human Rights Policy operationalizes our commitment to respect human rights and embodies our understanding of its importance to our operations as a security company. An accompanying document to this policy statement is the SENTINEL’s Human Rights Guidelines which provides our implementing rules and regulations in executing this policy. It also provides our expectations for the conduct of our employees and representations as well as those with whom we do business.

Sentinel will ensure compliance with relevant statutes and the principles contained in the ICoCA Code as well as the rights to freedom of expression and association as well as against arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy or deprivation of property.

In performing our work, we commit on the following:

• Maintain grievance mechanism to record and address human rights allegations and incidents, while protecting the confidentiality of anyone who reports potential violations.
• Support access to judicial or other non-judicial grievance mechanisms and shall always cooperate with all human rights-related investigations.
• All our employees, partners and contractors will treat everyone respectfully, protect human dignity and maintain and uphold human rights of all persons, prohibiting harassment and discrimination
• Security guards may use force only when absolutely necessary as the last resort and only to the extent required for their self-defence and of the people they protect during the performance of their duty. In so doing, they will be performed accordance with SENTINEL’s stringent Code of Conduct and Ethics.
• Sentinel’s security guards or any personnel will not instigate, tolerate, or inflict any act of torture and/or any degrading treatment or punishment to anyone
• Security guards should resort to non-violent means before using any force and/or firearms and in such cases, should adhere to Sentinel’s rules and regulations for their use.
• In cases where force is used, such incident/s will be reported to concerned authorities and client. Sentinel will abide with all relevant laws, regulations, and procedures
• Sentinel will provide effective training for all its personnel in international humanitarian law and human rights law / standards and will not employ any person who was convicted for human rights violations or hate crimes. Any security guard / employee who has found to commit such violation while being employed by Sentinel will face consequences of the law in addition to facing Sentinels own penalties which range from a warning to immediate dismissal.

III. Management and Responsibility

The implementation of this Policy and the continuing process of Sentinel’s human rights performance will be monitored as part of the wider assessment of our policies and codes and shall be conducted on an annual basis.

Ultimate responsibility for SENTINEL’s human rights performance lies with the Board and Management of SENTINEL who will actively ensure corporate accountability to this Policy and its related Guidelines. However, our managers and supervisors will be responsible for the implementation of our Human rights policy and guidelines on ground. They will demonstrate how they are actively preventing or responding to human rights risks and abuses, and how they are deliberately managing operations that respect people’s human rights and contribute to their realization.