Taking a Stand

Working with human rights in Arla

We embed our commitment to respect human rights in all business areas and processes, through our Code of Conduct, our Code of Conduct for Suppliers and Business Partners and other exterinternal policies. We establish processes that enable us to identify, prevent and mitigate potential adverse human rights impacts that we may cause, contribute or be directly linked to through our business activities. If we find that we have caused or contributed to adverse impact, we provide remediation appropriate to the grievance. If we find that we are directly linked to adverse impact, we will use our leverage to seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impact.

Read our Human Rights Policy

MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT

We are committed to respecting human rights and preventing forced labour and human trafficking and acknowledge and embrace our responsibility in all our operations.

UK MODERN SLAVERY ACT TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT (2025)

CANADA FIGHTING AGAINST FORCED LABOUR AND CHILD LABOUR IN SUPPLY CHAINS ACT (2025)

Archive:

Canada Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2024)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2024)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2023)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2022)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2021)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2020)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2019)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2018)

UK Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement (2017)

HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

We assess human rights impacts in the countries where we operate.

Country summaries

Here we present summaries of findings per country:

GHANA INDONESIA

In-depth assessments

Here we present some of the most critical topics to ensure we respect and promote human rights throughout our operations:

BANGLADESH NIGERIA SENEGAL

2024-2026: embedding human rights and governance

In 2024, Arla's human rights work focused increasingly on regulatory readiness and strengthened governance. A human rights check was made in Nigeria, and that same year, Arla’s published its first Modern Slavery Statement (Canada) was published

In 2025, Arla updated its salient human rights risks in a business setting, ensuring alignment between human rights priorities, operational realities, and risk-based decision-making.

In 2026, Arla updated its Code of Conduct, further embedding human rights, ethical standards and responsible business expectations across the organisation

2024-2026: embedding human rights and governance

2021-2023: growth and value creation

In 2021, Arla continued to strengthen the link between human rights, decent work, and sustainable agricultural development.
The Pilot Organic Dairy Farming was launched in Indonesia to support local farmer capabilities and sustainable production practices.

The same year, housing facilities for migrant workers in the Middle East met the International Labour Organization (ILO) standards, reinforcing Arla's commitment to decent living conditions.

In 2022, we conducted human rights checks in Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

In 2023, The Green Dairy Partnership was launched in Bangladesh to strengthen local farmer capabilities.

In Nigeria, the inauguration of an Arla dairy farm represented a further step in market engagement and local value creation.

Human Rights Assessments in Senegal and Ghana were conducted.

2018-2020: impact and partnerships

In 2019, Arla increased the focus on partnerships and tangible impact. The Pushti ambassador programme was launched in Bangladesh, employing female entrepreneurs for last mile distribution of dairy products. Arla also strengthened its engagement with smallholder farmers and signed a memorandum of understanding with Kaduna State Government in Nigeria, supporting the DAMAU Households project aimed at improving livelihoods by settling 1000 farmers with 3000 imported cows.

That year Arla also collaborated with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and held a Human Rights Dialogue Forum, and conducted a human rights assessment in Bahrain.

In 2020, we further embedded human rights into our company polices and risk-based approach. A Parental leave policy aligned with ILO principles was introduced, reinforcing Arla’s commitment to decent work. The company also defined its salient human rights risks, focusing strategically on the most severe risks in its value chain.
Human rights assessments were conducted in Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal.