This statement is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the slavery and human trafficking statement on behalf of the entities listed below for the financial year ending 31 December 2020. This statement sets out the steps that Digital Realty has taken, and is continuing to take, to prevent modern slavery or human trafficking in our business and within our supply chain.
Digital Realty is a global data centre service provider. We provide cloud- and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions for customers across a variety of industry verticals, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, health care and consumer products. In March 2020, Digital Realty completed the combination with InterXion. As of December 31, 2020, our global portfolio consisted of 291 data centres (including 43 data centres held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures), of which 139 are located in the United States, 107 are located in Europe (including 20 data centres in the United Kingdom), 22 are located in Latin America, 12 are located in Asia, six are located in Australia, three are located in Africa and two are located in Canada. Digital Realty employs more than 3,000 people worldwide.
Digital Realty has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and we expect the same from everyone with whom we have business dealings. We are committed to ensuring that there is transparency in our business, consistent with our disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We forbid the use of individuals who are forced, compelled or trafficked labour as well as anyone who is held in slavery or servitude. Our opposition to human slavery is a part of our overall management philosophy and governing principles with respect to acting with the highest ethical standards. These same high standards and principles serve as the foundation of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Our prohibition on the use of any form of compelled, coerced or forced labour applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity and at all levels within our organization (including, but not limited to, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors and external consultants).
All employees of Digital Realty are required to conduct themselves with integrity and in full compliance with the laws and regulations that govern our global business. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics provides standards for employee behaviour in business dealings that are consistent with the highest standards of business ethics. We also have toll-free numbers (including in the United Kingdom) to allow employees to confidentially and anonymously report suspected violations of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which encourages employees to report concerns related to practices within our business or supply chain which they believe to be unlawful or unethical, without fear of reprisals.
We expect our suppliers to share and adhere to our commitment to integrity and business ethics as reflected in our Supplier Code of Conduct, in which we specifically forbid the use of forced, coerced, trafficked or any form of non-voluntary human labour by our suppliers.
Our UK supply chain is a mixture of global and local vendors. These include global IT suppliers and service providers that support our business systems and processes as well as (mainly) U.K.-based engineering firms, constructions firms, consultancy firms and other local service providers across a wide cross-section of functional areas that enable us to successfully operate in the U.K.
We continue to apply a risk-based approach in order to identify and mitigate risk in our procurement process given the nature of our supply chain. We carry out proper due diligence and utilize appropriate vendor selection criteria that include consideration of the ethical standards and values reflected in the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Digital Realty is fully committed to the ongoing improvement of our supplier selection processes, practices and policies, including the development of processes to further identify, monitor and assess potential risks as our part in the effort to eliminate modern slavery and human trafficking in the global supply chain.