Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance,Refugees

An online seminar and an in-person seminar were held in Sapporo and Kyoto, respectively, with a total of 14 participants.

In the seminar, we introduced an overview of BHR, domestic and international trends, the corporate responsibilities, and government initiatives as well as relationships with local issues and human rights such as foreign workers in Sapporo and population decline and overtourism in Kyoto. After that, Japanese local companies and local government also shared their experiences and initiatives, such as foreign workers development in Sapporo and initiatives to respect human rights rooted in its corporate philosophy and human rights due diligence (Sapporo: Hokkaido Kyoso Partners Co.,Ltd and Higashikawa town, Kyoto: OMRON Corporation.)

In the peer-learning, participants, including the speakers at the seminars, interactively shared the issues, questions, and opinions regarding BHR and learned from each other.

We received the comments from participants such as "It was very informative to hear about actual case studies.," "I was once again struck by how difficult it is to implement human rights due diligence in small and medium-sized businesses and owner-managed companies.,” and “It was informative to hear perspectives from various viewpoints.”

The overseas seminars were held online in two countries (Indonesia and Philippines), with a total of 69 participants.

Following the briefs on an overview of BHR, human rights issues in the countries where the seminar was held, Japanese companies conducting business in the countries introduced their specific initiatives regarding BHR (Indonesia: PT. Omron Manufacturing of Indonesia, Philippines: Canon Business Machines Philippines, Inc.).

We received the comments from participants such as “I realized that it is important to establish a framework where not only individual companies but the entire supply chain works together to address these issues,” “I was able to update my approach to human rights to include not only our company but also our suppliers and the local community,” and “I found a starting point for our company’s future initiatives.”