"【トオカツフーズ】お問い合わせへの回答", 16 Dec 2020

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

…Please see the following for our response to your inquiry, which was submitted on our company’s website on 3 December 2020…

…2. Our company’s response

Please see below for our explanation of the content published in the article, ".

The article states that the supervisory body and the recruitment agency sent the Cambodian trainee back to his home country against hist will. However, our understanding is to the contrary.

Although our company was not involved in sending this trainee back to his country, we did check with the supervisory body and the recruitment agency, which supported him with his return. They informed us that he understood the situation and agreed to return to Cambodia in May 2016.

Our understanding is that the trainee was not forcibly repatriated, as stated in the article.

Furthermore, the article does not provide a reason for why the trainee returned home, so we would like to explain the circumstances of his departure.

When training foreign technical interns, we use a variety of materials in their native language. In the case of Cambodian trainees, it is essential that they can read and write in Khmer. During the intern selection process in Cambodia, the recruitment agency checks the graduation certificates that candidates have submitted to verify that they have graduated from middle school. The agency also selects candidates based on whether they can read and write in Khmer. However, during his internship, we discovered that the trainee in question could not read or write in Khmer. We then consulted with the recruitment agency and the supervisory body, informing them that it would be difficult for the trainee to continue working at our company. The supervisory body proposed ending his internship and sending him back to Cambodia with his approval, and we agreed to this proposal.

Since then, we have taken steps to ensure similar incidents do not occur. In the case of Cambodian trainees, we require their recruitment agency to investigate whether they are proficient in Khmer at the selection stage and before entering Japan.

Looking forward, we will continue to base collective bargaining discussions on factual information and strive to reach an understanding with the affected party.