Japan: Business and Human Rights Lawyers Network Japan publishes guidelines on mitigating COVID-19 impact on suppliers & workers
"COVID-19 Impacts on Human Rights and Guidance on Japanese Business Response", 27 April 2020
...[T]his chapter presents following five key points for Japanese companies to mitigate COVID-19 impacts on domestic and overseas suppliers and their workers and to implement responsible corporate conduct.
(1) Evaluate and disclose COVID-19 impacts, including its impact on workers in the supply chain...
(2) Particularly consider the impact on vulnerable stakeholders such as migrant workers...
(3) Explore ways to mitigate impacts while communicating with suppliers and workers as much as possible...
(4) Respond appropriately to issues and complaints raised by workers and other stakeholders through supply chains...
(5) Investors can provide a clear message to Japanese companies on how to respond through supply chains...
...In Japan, unfortunately, dismissal of technical intern trainees, non-payment of leave allowances, and cancellation of job offers for international students have been reported. Given that their visa status restricts their free choice of jobs, there is an increasing concern that the number of workers who lose their jobs and fall into poverty will rise further...
...The multifaceted economic and social impacts and limitations associated with responding to coronavirus have left many non-regular workers in vulnerable situation, resulting in impoverishment and infringement of their rights unless adequate protection being provided. Unfortunately in Japan, unemployment of dispatched workers, poverty of single mothers and women working in entertainment sector, and homelessness of day laborers and online cafe refugees have been reported...
...In terms of women's share of healthcare professionals, the new coronavirus has a disparate impact on men and women...
...In Japan, where the declining birthrate and the aging population are progressing and the shortage of labour in the nursing care service sector is an issue, the limitation of nursing care services significantly affects older persons and their families...
In Japan, the Government has also requested business to provide information that contributes to the countermeasures against coronavirus clusters...The government also announced that it would collaborate with the private sectors to provide an app for smartphones that warns people who may have come into close contact with patients with COVID-19...