"「ビジネスと人権」に関する行動計画の策定・公表に対する談話", 16 Oct 2020

[Excerpt translation from Japanese to English provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.]

As a national center for labour unions with the purpose of protecting workers’ rights, we commend the establishment of the National Action Plan [(NAP)]…

…NAP covers existing measures to protect human rights in areas such as labour rights, children’s rights, and consumers’ rights. However, in its development stage, the document did not include a gap analysis examining the effectiveness of current government measures. As such, NAP raises concerns about whether it will contribute to future improvements toward the protection of human rights.

…As a result, NAP integrates demands from Rengo, which include strengthening the National Contact Point (NCP) based on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and strengthening efforts to protect the rights of foreign workers as well as ongoing efforts to ratify basic ILO core conventions. The Japanese government must diligently implement the items in NAP.

…Stakeholder monitoring is essential to effective implementation of NAP. Furthermore, it will be important to verify that human rights are protected across business activities through discussions with employers. With that in mind, it is necessary to cultivate "social dialogue" between the government and relevant stakeholders with a view towards reevaluating NAP in five years. Rengo will continue to demand participation as a stakeholder as outlined in section 4 of NAP—Framework for Implementing and Reevaluating NAP—while collaborating with other stakeholders to strengthen human rights protections related to business activities...