We also respect everyone’s human rights in all business activities and aim to establish a company with no discrimination either inside or outside the company due to race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, age, colour, religion and belief/philosophy.
In all of our business activities in and outside Japan, Ono Pharmaceutical Group understands and respects the human rights of each individual in terms of the diversity of values, personalities, and characteristics, and we act accordingly. We also uphold and respect the International Bill of Human Rights, the International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, conventions on the human rights of workers, such as wages and working hours, etc., the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and other international codes of conduct related to human rights, and the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact.
In July 2020, we established the ONO Pharmaceutical Human Rights Global Policy based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. For the entire Ono Pharmaceutical Group, to fulfill our responsibility to respect the human rights of our stakeholders, the ONO Pharmaceutical Human Rights Global Policy applies to all executive officers and employees of our group, and we also encourage all of our business partners involved in the businesses, products, and services of Ono Pharmaceutical Group to comply with the policy. This Policy has been revised and disclosed after obtaining the approval of the Board of Directors meeting held in March 2023.
We also consider that respect of human rights by employees is a foundation of business activities and we include respect for human rights in the ONO Group Code of Conduct, which all employees should consider to be a guideline for their daily operational activities.
In addition, for the further development of our global business activities, we revised the Basic Policy for Procurement Activities and established the Sustainable Procurement Code for ONO's Business Partners in which we compiled matters for our business partners to cooperate with concerning global human rights issues, such as forced labor and child labor, in the entire supply chain, asked for cooperation of our business partners, and are strengthening the collaboration.
We recognize that we may have adverse impacts on human rights directly or indirectly through our business activities and in our supply chain. In accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we have established a human rights due diligence system to prevent or reduce adverse impacts on human rights that we may cause to society, will continue to implement the system, and will disclose the progress and results externally.
In FY2022, we conducted an impact assessment of potential risks to human rights (human rights risk assessment) in our group and supply chain in cooperation with the Caux Round Table (CRT Japan Committee) and specified priority human rights that we will address. In the future, we will conduct an assessment of exposed impacts (human rights impact assessment).
First, we conducted a desktop survey* and identified potential human rights risks associated with our business activities, including our supply chain.
In addition, we also identified themes and areas with high potential human rights risks and held a human rights due diligence workshop to identify our risks. The human rights due diligence workshop was held for two days with 25 participants in total from relevant departments.
In the workshop, we considered the needs of society and social changes, and then we identified potential human rights issues that may have an impact on our business and that may occur among rights holders and the overall value chain.
As a result of assessment of potential human rights issues that are of concern through the desktop survey and human rights due diligence workshop, there were issues for which risks have not been identified in detail. We will identify the actual status of the following two issues with our group companies and business partners. In addition, we will implement preventive and corrective actions as well as establish a system where high priority human rights issues and new human rights issues can be promptly recognized.
We will identify the actual status of the working environment of raw material suppliers, such as producers and manufacturers, etc., in particular, the working environment of raw material producers and outsourcing manufacturing companies, identify and assess specific adverse impacts on their human rights during our procurement activities, and implement prevention and mitigation actions.
We will identify the actual status of vulnerable workers in our group companies in Japan and in our supply chain, identify and assess specific adverse impacts on their human rights during our procurement activities, and implement prevention and mitigation actions.
We have established a system to take action promptly for high priority human rights issues in cooperation with CRT Japan Committee.
In 2022, Kimberly-Clark Corp (U.S. company) and Ansell Ltd (Australian company) were sued by International Rights Advocates (IRA), a legal support group in Washington, D.C., on the grounds that they knowingly profited from forced labor at Brightway Holdings, a rubber glove manufacturing company and supplier in Malaysia.
In response to a report on this fact by the CRT Japan Committee, we investigated through our agents since we have purchased rubber gloves made by Brightway and sold by Kimberly-Clark. As a result, we confirmed that, as of the investigation date (September 15), Kimberly-Clark had discontinued transactions with Brightway, no longer handled Brightway's products, and is conducting third-party audits regularly with all outsourcing manufacturing companies. We determined that we would continue to use the products of Kimberly-Clark while watching the progress of the lawsuit and their actions, and if further concerns arise in the future, we will reexamine transactions with Kimberly-Clark, including the use of substitutes.
We are creating worker-friendly work environments by strengthening the compliance system to prevent any harassment and providing training every year. For more details on the compliance system and training, please see here.
In addition, in association with the revision of the ONO Pharmaceutical Human Rights Global Policy, we provided training on the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for persons in charge from the Business Audit, Legal, Corporate Planning, Sustainability Promotion, Procurement and Purchasing, Compliance Promotion, and Human Resources Departments in FY2022, as a preliminary exercise prior to training for all employees.
We have established internal and external points of contact for reporting and consultation (see the chart below), including the ONO Hotline, which is open 24 hours a day. The aim of this is to prevent the occurrence and recurrence of compliance violations, including harassment, to secure an appropriate work environment, and to minimize loss and the erosion of public trust by taking swift action and measures in the event of a violation. Please click here for details of the internal reporting and consultation system.