Code of Conduct

Where necessary for the implementation of our statutory goals, Germanwatch shall actively contribute to the debate on political framework conditions and strengthen the corresponding social debate. Therefore Germanwatch shall have a mediating function between politics and the public. The situation of the most disadvantaged people, especially in the Global South, is the starting point of our work. In our approaches to solutions, we shall also try to keep in mind the interests of the different sectors of society and milieus as well as gender equality. We shall constructively integrate these approaches to solutions into the achievement of our public good-oriented goals so that they support or at least do not jeopardise the implementation of fundamental and human rights and the protection of livelihoods. The realisation of our goals shall address, on the one hand, a wide range of actors and institutions in politics, the judiciary, the economy, the financial market and the public. Both this range and, on the other hand, the exchange within civil society require Germanwatch to be particularly sensitive and transparent in the realisation of their tasks.    

Employees and others working on behalf of Germanwatch shall, in the exercise of their profession, respect and promote the principles of democracy and international law, as well as the values of the German Basic Law, the provisions of national legislation, in particular the principles of freedom of expression, the right to information, the independence of the media and the protection of personal rights.

We shall base our actions on human rights standards and principles as set out in the German Basic Law and international human rights conventions. We shall also constantly raise our own and each other's awareness of the possible unintended impacts of our actions on the ecological environment, the protection of livelihoods (such as climate protection and adaptation as well as biodiversity) and human rights.

Integrity, respect for the democratic order and its rules as well as respect for people with different opinions shall be the prerequisites when competing for the best ideas and concepts.

Against this background, Germanwatch has adopted the present Code of Conduct. We, the employees and the Board of Germanwatch as well as other persons acting on behalf of Germanwatch, shall commit ourselves to adhere to the following principles in the exercise of this activity.