"【HRN人権DD法案公開】「人権デュー・ディリジェンス法（人権ＤＤ法）等の必要性について」・「【ＨＲＮ】人権デュー・ディリジェンス法案」（「別紙国際人権基準」）" 22 April 2023

[ Japanese-to-English translation: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre ]

Human Rights Now released the statement on the necessity for legislation on human rights due diligence and the draft legislation [...] prior to the House meeting on Wednesday, 26 April.

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"人権デュー・ディリジェンス法（人権ＤＤ法）等の必要性について" 2023年4月21日

[ Japanese-to-English translation: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre ]

On 13 September 2022, the Japanese government developed the Guidelines for Respect for Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains. While this is a step forward, it is extremely insufficient to provide relief to victims of the serious human rights violations that are occurring around the world today.

This is because the Guidelines are only 'guidelines' that are not legally binding. It is certainly possible that some companies will voluntarily and sincerely undertake human rights due diligence based on these guidelines, even if they are only guidelines. On the other hand, however, as they are not legally binding, it is inevitable that some companies will not take them seriously. Currently, there is a big difference between the efforts of different companies in Japan.

The biggest problem here is that many serious human rights violations occur along the value chains of companies that do not take such human rights due diligence seriously. In the absence of legislation, human rights violations will not disappear.

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In light of this situation, there is an urgent need to enact legislation requiring Japanese companies above a certain size that have the capacity and systems to conduct HRDD on their value chains to conduct HRDD. In addition to HRDD laws, trade regulations (e.g. import/export regulations) that indirectly encourage HRDD should also be actively considered.

Sufficient time is needed to develop the legal system with sufficient time for discussion. In addition, respect for human rights is a cooperative effort between the state, civil society and business, and capacity-building for each of these actors is also necessary. It is therefore necessary to discuss and develop legislation that mandates HRDD as soon as possible.

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