Human Rights
Governance and Management Framework
JSR Group has established the Sustainability Planning Committee to advance initiatives to cultivate respect for human rights. The Sustainability Planning Committee, chaired by the officer in charge of Sustainability Promotion, is responsible for formulating, implementing, and checking the progress of related initiatives. Particularly important matters are reported to the Board of Directors through the Sustainability Promotion Committee, chaired by the Representative Director, CEO, and President, to ensure respect for human rights in JSR Group.
Policy and Basic Approach
JSR Group recognizes the importance of such international norms as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Global Compact, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We agree with the thinking they represent and will respect human rights accordingly. We also understand that we must fulfill our responsibility to respect human rights in all of our business activities.
Based on this awareness, JSR Group has formulated and published its Human Rights Policy. It is based on JSR Group’s “Code of Conduct for Respecting Human Rights,” which is established in the “JSR Group Principles of Corporate Ethics”. We position it as the prevailing policy of all documents and norms associated with actions concerning respect for human rights in JSR Group’s business activities.
The policy is based on the concepts of international norms, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the UN Global Compact.
JSR Group’s Human Rights Policy expresses its approach to respecting human rights and its commitment to human rights initiatives. To ensure that employees understand and embody respect for human rights, we continue to share our policy on the company intranet and conduct human rights training on a regular basis. To fulfill our responsibility to respect human rights in all our business activities, we continue to take a precautionary approach in line with the concept of human rights due diligence. We comply with the relevant laws and regulations of each country and region. In cases where there is a conflict between laws and regulations and international norms, we seek ways to respect the international norms.
JSR Group believes that it is important to ensure respect for human rights not only within the Group but also throughout the supply chain. This policy applies to all officers and employees of JSR Group, and we ask our business partners and suppliers to agree with the policy and pursue similar initiatives.
- Main pillars of the Policy (overview)
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- Respect the dignity and human rights of all persons and eliminate discrimination and all forms of harassment
- Prohibit child labor and forced labor, comply with labor-related laws and regulations, respect the right to organize and collective bargaining, and strive to ensure equal opportunity
- Prevent and lessen negative effects on human rights that are tied to JSR Group businesses and business relationships (initiatives based on the concept of human rights due diligence)
- Promptly and suitably remedy and correct any negative impacts, and encourage proper responses in the supply chain
- JSR Group’s Human Rights Policy (PDF, multilingual)
Metrics and Targets
JSR Group has introduced the Corporate Ethics Hotline and JSR Group Supplier Hotline, both internal reporting systems, in order to identify and correct violations or suspected violations of laws and corporate ethics within the organization at an early stage and to ensure sound operations.
In FY2024, the year we began aggregating data on a global basis, there were 43 reports in total. We also received one report via the JSR Business Partner Hotline in FY2024.
Initiatives
1. Compliance with human rights laws and regulations
(1) Prohibition of child labor and forced labor
In accordance with its Human Rights Policy, JSR Group prohibits child labor and forced labor. We ensure that employees are age-verified at the start of employment to prevent these problems from occurring.
(2) Respect for the right to organize and collective bargaining
In accordance with its Human Rights Policy, JSR Group respects the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively. Each JSR Group company has established a framework for dialogue with labor unions or employee representatives in accordance with the laws and regulations of their respective countries and regions. JSR Corporation strives to maintain and strengthen sound labor-management relations through regular exchanges of opinions and question-and-answer sessions with the JSR Workers’ Union.
Please refer to the JSR ESG Data Book for the numbers and ratios of union members.
2. Promote understanding of respect for human rights among employees
For JSR Group to fulfill its responsibilities regarding respect for human rights, we believe that each employee of the Group must deepen their understanding of human rights. To this end, we continuously conduct e-learning programs on human rights with the aim of systematically enabling our employees to develop their human rights knowledge. In FY2022, 82% of JSR Group employees took the e-learning program course (although there was with some variation among sites). In the future, we will continue to make improvements so that all JSR Group employees, regardless of location or position, can take the course and deepen their understanding.
3. Respect for human rights throughout the supply chain
To ensure respect for human rights throughout its supply chain, JSR Group includes a section on respect for human rights in the JSR Group CSR/Sustainable Procurement Policy. We also provide our suppliers with two policies: JSR Group’s Human Rights Policy and CSR/Sustainable Procurement Policy. Furthermore, we ask companies that agree with the two policies to submit a Statement of Endorsement. In 2022, 90% of the Group's procurement partners submitted a Statement of Endorsement.
4. Access to remedy
JSR Group has established a Corporate Ethic Hotline to provide remedy to employees who have been subjected to harassment or other harm that constitutes a violation of human rights. In Japan, we have also established the JSR Group Business Partner Hotline. The hotline, a reporting system for business partners with which we have ongoing business relationships, serves to identify suspected cases of corporate ethics violations at an early stage. To promote the use of the JSR Group Supplier Hotline, we provide information on the contact point for JSR Group Supplier Hotline at the start of each transaction.
All the hotlines place the highest priority on the protection of complainants, rigorously ensure the confidentiality of their reports, and prohibit any disadvantageous treatment (e.g. retaliation) for reporting or cooperating in investigations. In addition, we strive to remedy and correct any damage that may occur.
5. Human rights due diligence (human rights DD)
JSR Group began work on human rights DD in FY2024. With the advice of experts in the field, we conducted literature and data research and workshops to identify possible human rights risks in the supply chain and create organized lists of the issues. Going forward, we will continue to confirm and assess the actual status of human rights issues in our value chain, including our own company, and work diligently to take the necessary action.