Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance,Refugees

On June 17, commencing at 4:00 p.m. for approximately 30 minutes, Mr. Kenji Yamada, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a courtesy call from Prof. Anita Ramasastry, Member of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprise (UN Working Group), who is visiting Japan under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Strategic Exchanges on Practical Level Invitation Program. The overview of the courtesy call is as follows:

1. At the beginning, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Yamada shared the information on the current status of developing Japan’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights, and expressed his desire to deepen coordination and cooperation with the UN Working Group. He also stated that Japan aims to promote and protect human rights in the context of business activities through the NAP formulation process as one of the measures to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2. In response, referring to some cases of other countries, Prof. Ramasastry expressed her expectation for the Government of Japan to demonstrate leadership in the field of business and human rights.
3. Furthermore, they exchanged their views on development cooperation, the roles of financial institutions in the area of business and human rights, “Work-Style Reform,” and women’s active participation in the workforce.