Respect for human rights
- Toyota Tsusho Group Human Rights Policy
- Respect for Human Rights in COCE
- Structures
- Human Rights Due Diligence
- Internal whisleblowing system
- Training and awareness activities
- Fair employment
- Measures to Eliminate human rights violations Including Child Labor and Forced Labor
- Equal pay for equal work
Toyota Tsusho Group Human Rights Policy
This policy was reported to the Board of Directors of Toyota Tsusho Corporation on March 29, 2022.
Toyota Tsusho Group's Corporate Philosophy is "Living and prospering together with people, society and the globe, we aim to be a value-generating corporation that contributes to creation of a prosperous society", and we are striving to solve social issues through our business activities.
As "Be the Right ONE," namely, to be an irreplaceable and unique presence for partners and stakeholders, forms our "Ideal Image" as part of our Global Vision, we recognize that it is an extremely important responsibility to understand the human rights issues of countries and regions in which we operate and undertake appropriate actions. We list our idea to "Respect human rights, and actively develop people who will contribute to society by nurturing them and giving them opportunities to apply their skills." as one of our Key Sustainability Issues (Materiality).
Toyota Tsusho Group positions this policy as its highest level policy regarding human rights.
- 1 Our stance on international norms and laws
We believe that respect for human rights in accordance with international standards forms the foundation of our business worldwide, and consequently, we respect human rights based on the United Nations International Bill of Human Rights, including the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and the "Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights."
Our Behavioral Guidelines stipulate that we "Will respect people and strive to create an engaging workplace," as good corporate citizens and our Global Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE) specifies our respect for human rights and stresses our consideration for human rights.
We particularly strive to ensure that there is no discrimination against gender, age, nationality, race, skin color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, political views, or other factors in our workplaces, to establish policies to prohibit forced labor, child labor and unreasonably low wage labor, to eliminate inadequate employment and pay above the minimum wage in compliance with labor laws and regulations of countries in which we operate and to protect the right to privacy and freedom of expression of all individuals with whom we engage in the course of our company activities.
- 2Scope of application
This policy applies to all officers and employees. We also expect all of our business partners, including suppliers, to understand and comply with this policy.
- 3Human rights due diligence
We will strive to identify and prevent or mitigate any adverse impacts on human rights in our business through our human rights due diligence mechanisms.
- 4Remediation and remedy
If we discover that our business activities have caused or are having an adverse impact on human rights, we will work to remediate or remedy them through appropriate procedures and dialog.
- 5Grievance mechanism
We will endeavor to establish a reporting and grievance system to appropriately understand and respond to all human rights issues affecting our officers and employees or otherwise related to our business.
- 6Education
We will provide appropriate education and training to officers and employees so that they are familiar and comply with this policy. Moreover, we will include this policy in our guidelines and other necessary procedures so as to firmly establish it in our business activities.
- 7Progress confirmation and information disclosure
We will persistently review our efforts to respect human rights, track progress and disclose our findings in a timely manner through our website, etc.
- 8Dialog / discussion with stakeholders
We will endeavor to consult with third-party organizations with human rights expertise regarding any adverse impact on human rights and engage in dialog and discussions with relevant stakeholders.
Formulated in January 2020
Revised in March 2022
President & CEO
Ichiro Kashitani
- Rights of children
- We believe that the human rights of children-who will lead future generations-require particular consideration. To this end, we endorse children's rights-related treaties championed by international organizations and support UNICEF's "Children's Rights and Business Principles."
- Rights of indigenous peoples
- We recognize the unique culture and history of indigenous people in our business activities in the countries and regions where they reside. Further, we shall consider the rights of indigenous peoples stipulated in the laws and regulations of such countries and regions as well as in international norms, such as "United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
- Our stance on security firm appointment
- We recognize that the use of weapons in security operations carries a potential risk of human rights abuse. Accordingly, we will endeavor to respect human rights by supporting the laws and norms of countries and regions in which we conduct business, as well as related international agreements, when appointing security organizations and other entities as part of our business activities.
- Prevention of modern slavery
- We will endeavor to undertake measures to prevent the influence of modern slavery, such as forced labor and human trafficking, in our business activities.
Respect for Human Rights in COCE
In July 2016, Toyota Tsusho enacted our Global Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE), which defines a more concrete statement of the company's Behavioral Guidelines, after it was approved by the Board of Directors in April of that year. We issue the COCE Booklet with the president's message in various languages (currently, 23 languages) and have made it available on our intranet so that it can be accessed by all employees around the world. We seek to ensure thorough awareness about respect for human rights by obtaining, through the COCE global network, a globally common pledge from both Toyota Tsusho Group officers and employees around the world to follow the COCE.
Booklet of Global Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE)
The booklet provides behavioral guidelines regarding the 10 creeds of the Global Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE) in greater detail.
Structures
At Toyota Tsusho and its Group companies, the Human Resources Department implements human rights-related measures day-to-day based on the Human Rights Policy and the Code of Conduct & Ethics (COCE), under the jurisdiction of the CSO (Member of the Board Hiroshi Tominaga) and CHRO (Senior Executive Officer/Assistant to the CSO Makiko Hamase), who manage the departments supervising human rights.
We are aiming to strengthen our efforts to realize a sustainable society from a long-term perspective based on the three viewpoints of ESG (environment, society, and governance). To this end, we have appointed sustainability officers in each sales division and overseas region, and are promoting respect for human rights and other sustainability-related initiatives.
Human Rights Due Diligence
Human rights due diligence process
Initiatives for consolidated subsidiaries
Toyota Tsusho has initiated human rights due diligence efforts for all of its consolidated subsidiaries from the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, to address human rights risks that impact society through its business activities.
We analyzed human rights risks from the three perspectives of business nature (business sector), location (country), and product related. We identified 93 companies that we considered to require prioritized risk assessment and surveyed these companies through questionnaires on the status of management of specific assumed human rights risks. Based on the results, we identified companies that we believe require further investigation and conducted interviews with them in the presence of a third-party organization to investigate their actual status. Although this process did not identify any human rights issues that are likely to emerge immediately, we will continue and strengthen our efforts to reduce human rights risks in the future. The status of this process and the evaluation results were reported to the Sustainability Management Committee.
Initiatives for the supply chains
We have been conducting human rights due diligence for human rights risks in the supply chains since the beginning of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024. We analyze human rights risks from the three perspectives of business nature (business sector), location (country), and product related, as we do for our consolidated subsidiaries, utilizing international indicators and tools. We will conduct questionnaires and on-site audits as necessary for suppliers that are identified as high risk. Through these efforts, we will identify negative human rights impacts and work to prevent or mitigate them.
Internal whisleblowing system
Toyota Tsusho has set up a Harassment Consultation Desk for consultations on and reporting of sexual harassment, power harassment, discriminatory language, and other human rights issues. The Consultation Desk determines whether an investigation is necessary and, if so, operates in such a way that anonymity and confidentiality are maintained, and that reporting personnel are not subject to retaliation. The reporting individual is notified of the investigation's results as necessary.
In November 2017, we launched a dedicated external reporting line with multilingual support in more than 150 languages, providing a global service with greater anonymity and confidentiality. In this way, we are working to establish internal reporting systems that make it easier for employees to report or consult on matters related to COCE violations, including corruption and human rights' violations.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, there were 7 cases of consultations concerning human rights, but based on investigations including interviews of the concerned parties, we determined that there were no human rights violations or discrimination that had a significant impact. We will continue responding appropriately to individual inquiries.
Training and awareness activities
The Global Human Resources Department is primarily responsible for employee training and activities to raise employees’ human rights awareness. We have introduced Practical Harassment Training for those in managerial positions, in which they learn trends and solutions based on detailed case studies such as how to respond when a subordinate asks for advice on harassment, with the goal of raising awareness of appropriate labor management. Our human rights educational activities are attended not only by Toyota Tsusho employees, but also by employees at affiliated companies.
We also communicate with external experts who are specialized in human rights to understand the latest trends in international situations and legislation regarding human rights, as well as changes in expectations of companies.
In 2022, we invited international lawyers well versed in human rights issues to exchange opinions with the CHRO and general managers of relevant in-house departments.
In addition, we provided e-learning courses on current trends in human rights and our Group’s Basic Policy for Human Rights for both Toyota Tsusho and domestic consolidated subsidiaries and held study sessions on human rights for human rights officers at consolidated subsidiaries with global operations.
At the same time, we have incorporated our philosophy on human rights and the environment into our Supply Chain Sustainability Behavioral Guidelines, which are guidelines for realizing mutual sustainable growth through shared understanding and cooperation with our suppliers, in order to ensure that our entire supply chain is sustainable. We have shared these guidelines with approximately 1,300 suppliers that have transactions with us and asked them to put the guidelines into practice.
Fair employment
When hiring employees, we make fair decisions based solely on whether an individual has the abilities and qualities matching the needs of Toyota Tsusho. Differences based on gender, age, nationality, disabilities, and other factors are not considered during this process.We also provide training for hiring staff and others involved in the hiring process, while consulting government organizations and attorneys when necessary to ensure our hiring is free of discrimination or prejudice.
Measures to Eliminate human rights violations such as Child Labor and Forced Labor
As part of COCE, we pledge not to participate in child labor, human trafficking, and other forms of forced labor. In order to prevent child labor, for example, we have made age-verification via official identification a compulsory part of our recruitment processes.
For human rights violation and all forms of corruption-including those outlined above-we have launched an external reporting line that maintains anonymity and confidentiality with multilingual support in more than 160 languages; in this way, we are establishing systems that enable us to respond appropriately to information provided by parties.
Equal pay for equal work
We have applied Toyota Tsusho Group Human Rights Policy and Supply Chain CSR Behavioral Guidelines worldwide, and asked each Group company is creating compensation structures compliant with local laws in accordance with the policy and guidelines. In Japan, we established the "Human Resources Meeting" and announced to human resources personnel at domestic Group companies, that we will provide equal pay for equal work in accordance with the law. Toyota Tsusho complies with the statutory minimum wage and applies compensation systems that are in uniformity across gender for the same qualifications and same work duties.