Sakina Juzar

Japan is now set to promote plans for identifying, resolving and preventing human rights violations not only in the workplace, but across their suppliers, clients, joint ventures and investment portfolios according to Nikkei Asia. 

New rules from the  Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry demand “maximum” action against discrimination, forced labor, etc. 

These guidelines will outline the steps the Japanese companies should take, which contribute towards the commitment made by the Japanese government in its 2020 National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights and by G7 trade ministers in December 20201.

The new regulations are expected to compel businesses to check their supply chains and sales networks for child labor and forced labor as well as for racial, disability, religious, and gender discrimination.

The monitoring process will also take into account the disadvantages faced by foreign nations, women, children and disabled individuals as well as indegnious people and ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities in the workplace. 

Companies are also advised to take a four-step approach to potential violations: Identify issues and their severity, mitigate the damage and prevent a recurrence, rate the effectiveness of their response, and release their findings to the public. 

If found short of resolving abuse, companies will be urged to provide victims with relief through monetary or non-monetary compensation. 

According to the Center for Strategic International Studies, with this move, Japan has joined a group of governments that believe that managing their industries’ global impacts on people has financial, strategic, and even national security implications.