Human Rights

• 1.Scope of Application

  The Policy applies to all officers and employees (including contract and temporary employees) of the Kanematsu Group. We also require our suppliers, clients, business partners, and other relevant parties to respond appropriately in accordance with the principles of the Policy and work with them to promote respect for human rights.

• 2.Compliance with International Standards and Laws

  As a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, we support and respect international standards on human rights including the International Bill of Human Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the International Labor Organization (ILO)'s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (conventions related to core labor standards), and the Children's Rights and Business Principles. We also respect human rights based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

  We comply with the laws and regulations of the countries and regions in which we operate. If there is a conflict between internationally recognized human rights and the laws and regulations of each country or region, we seek ways to respect international standards of human rights.

• 3.Governance

  An officer in charge of sustainability is responsible for the Policy and promotes efforts to respect human rights in accordance with the Policy. The Sustainability Management Committee comprising executive officers discusses the necessary measures to promote efforts and reports them to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors supervises compliance with the Policy and the progress of efforts.

• 4.Human Rights Due Diligence

  We identify and assess adverse human rights impacts of stakeholders involved in our business operations. We establish and continuously implement a human rights due diligence system to prevent and mitigate any adverse impacts.

  • Scope and Human Rights Issues

    We have designated salient human rights issues among the human rights issues that may arise in the value chain relating to the Kanematsu Group's business operations as outlined in the appendix and implement appropriate measures to address these issues.

  • Identification and Assessment of Adverse Human Rights Impacts

    We identify and assess potential and actual adverse human rights impacts.

  • Human Rights Impact Assessment

    In order to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts, we take appropriate measures based on impact assessment results. When multiple adverse human rights impacts are identified, priority is given to those that have most severe impacts on stakeholders and where delayed response would make them irremediable.

  • Continuous Monitoring

    In order to fulfill our responsibility to respect human rights, we continuously monitor the implementation of measures to prevent and mitigate adverse human rights impacts, and periodically review the effectiveness of these measures.

• 5.Information Disclosure

  We appropriately disclose the progress and results of our efforts to respect human rights both internally and externally through our website and other media.

• 6.Dialogue and Consultation with Stakeholders

  We strive to improve our efforts to respect human rights by engaging in dialogue and consultation with relevant stakeholders regarding the progress and results of our efforts.

• 7.Dissemination and Periodic Review of the Policy

  We provide all officers and employees with appropriate education and training to promote understanding and awareness of the Policy and human rights. We also strive to deepen the understanding of our suppliers, clients, and business partners regarding the Policy. Based on the ongoing implementation of human rights due diligence and the results of dialogue and consultation with stakeholders, we identify salient human rights issues on a case-by-case basis and implement periodic reviews of the Policy.

• 8.Remedy

  If adverse human rights impacts are caused or contributed to by our business operations, or if such trends become apparent, we take appropriate steps to remedy them. As an effective remedy, we pledge to establish a reporting channel that is available to internal and external stakeholders, to ensure anonymity and confidentiality to those who report to the channel, and to protect whistleblowers from any disadvantages that may arise as a result of making a report.

• Prohibition of human trafficking, forced labor and child labor

  We prohibit all labor practices that violate human rights, including all forms of human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor.

• Respect for rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining

  We respect basic labor rights including the right to freedom of association and workers' right to collective bargaining.

• Prohibition of discrimination and harassment

  We respect human rights and prohibit discrimination and all forms of harassment based on race, skin color, beliefs, religion, nationality, age, gender, origin, physical or mental disability or other factors.

• Establishment of a safe and healthy work environment

  We manage the adequate working hours of our employees, avoid excessive work, and secure minimum wage or higher based on the labor standards of respective countries. The maintenance and improvement of employee health is an important management issue, and we strive to promote health management and establish a safe working environment.

• Employment of security company

  In promoting our business activities around the world, we employ security companies when deemed necessary to protect the safety and security of employees, and we recognize that the use of weapons for security purposes entails a potential risk of human rights violations. We strive to respect human rights with regard to the employment of security companies by supporting the laws and international norms of the countries and regions in which we conduct business operations, as well as relevant international agreements such as the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials, and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

• Indigenous rights

  We respect international norms and standards concerning the rights of indigenous peoples, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (ILO Convention No. 169), Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and give due consideration to the human rights and cultures of indigenous peoples.

  We also address human rights issues in the Materiality identified by the Kanematsu Group.

• Promoting respect for human rights in the supply chain

  We encourage all stakeholders to respect human rights in a wide range of value chains, and work with our suppliers, clients, and business partners to achieve stable and sustainable procurement, supply, logistics, and services and ensure the sustainability and resilience of our business.

• Efforts toward a decarbonized society

  We strive to avoid adverse human rights impacts associated with the progress of climate change, and work to reduce the environmental burden toward realizing a decarbonized society.

• Addressing human rights issues in local communities

  We contribute to the sustainable growth and development of local communities by addressing human rights issues in the communities in which we operate.

• Overview of Efforts to Respect Human Rights in Business

  

  ①Identification and assessment of adverse human rights impacts

  The Kanematsu Group has established and continuously operates a system of human rights due diligence to identify and assess adverse human rights impacts on stake-holders involved with its business activities in order to prevent or mitigate such adverse impacts.
  We began the process of identifying and assessing adverse impacts by identifying businesses to survey for human rights risks from among our wide-ranging businesses.
  Next, we assessed the impact of the potential human rights issues anticipated in the identified businesses in terms of likelihood of occurrence and severity of impact.
  

• Identifying Businesses to Survey for Human Rights Risks

  To begin the human rights risk survey, we first utilized an external database on ESG issues to compare our businesses against sectors that have a high frequency of human rights issues in order to estimate the frequency of each type of human rights issue in each of our businesses.
  As a result of this process, based on the number of issues in each sector in the broader economy and the degree of similarity of our businesses with these sectors, we determined that the energy and food businesses should be the survey targets.
  Note that we determined that the Group’s plant and infrastructure business is dissimilar to the database’s construction industry sector as it handles facilities and equipment specific to ODA-related projects.

  

• Human Rights Issue Impact Assessment

  

  Next, we assessed the impact by stakeholder* of the potential human rights issues anticipated in the energy business and foods business in terms of likelihood of occurrence and severity of impact. Based on these assessments, we plotted a human rights issue impact map for each of these businesses.
  

  *Stakeholders included in assessments: Employees, Group companies, contractors, suppliers, local residents and consumers

  

  • Stakeholders included in Employees, Group companies, suppliers (oil-producing countries), suppliers, and local residents (oil-producing countries)

  

  • Stakeholders included in Employees, Group companies, contractors, suppliers, local residents (farmers, residents near farms, etc.), local residents (residents near factories, etc.), and consumers

  Note: Human rights issues affecting multiple stakeholder types are plotted with reference to the stakeholder assessed to present the most severe impact.

• Identifying Salient Human Rights Issues

  Through the human rights issue impact assessment, we identified and prioritized the salient human rights issues and impacted stakeholders in each of our business (human rights issues in red are those of particular priority in that particular business).

  

②Prevention and mitigation of adverse human rights impacts ―Human rights due diligence in the supply chain―

　　

• Creation of SAQ　(Self-Assessment Questionnaire)

  We started the creation of an SAQ to understand the actual conditions of the individual human rights issues at our suppliers in the energy business and food business. In addition to recognition and management system of the human rights management required by various international standards and norms as well as universal interview questions regarding the individual human rights issues, we also took into account of the indigeneity of human rights issues of our company to establish a structure where the issues, especially those expected to be at risk, can be investigated in more detail by setting many items regarding the salient human rights issues specified in “① Identification and assessment of adverse human rights impacts” and confirming the status of the basic measures taken for the human rights issues. The purpose of this questionnaire is also for understanding potential risks and confirming the consistency with the overall risk map based on the actual business conditions by including not only the salient human rights issues but other overall human rights issues in the questions in the SAQ.

• Response format of SAQ

  An online response format has been adopted for the questionnaire to prevent the omission of answers. According to the level of the measures taken for each question, a multiple choice question with four options, “fully compliant,” “partially compliant,” “non-compliant” and “not applicable” were used as the response method.

• Sending of SAQ

  We sent the SAQ to our suppliers who handle commodities, which may have potential adverse impact on the human rights of stakeholders. In addition to the suppliers, which occupy approximately 70% of the top business partners of each area we conduct continuous business transactions with, other mailing destinations were selected in consideration of the comprehensive coverage of the countries and regions.（as of February, 2024)

• Countries and areas	Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Japan, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tanzania
  Number of suppliers	25 Suppliers （Energy business：4 suppliers、Foods business：21 suppliers）
  Survey topics	Human rights, management, Discrimination, Child labor, Forced labor, Excessive labor/working hours, Payment of appropriate wages/living wages, Rights to associate and join labor unions, Occupational health and safety, Impact on local communities, User health and safety

  *The topics in bold letter are the salient human rights issues identified in the preceding process

• Result of survey

  As a result of the survey, it was confirmed that the suppliers are taking very effective measures on human rights issues. Regarding the salient human rights issues, although the measures are progressing in general, the items that seem to be inadequate are summarized as follows. There are responses from some suppliers that require confirmation of the actual conditions, so we will hold discussions on the measures to be taken in the future.

Human rights issues	Inadequate items	The percentage of suppliers with issues
		Total	Energy business	Foods business
Human rights management	External announcement of human rights policy	0%	0%	0%
	Limitations on range of users of reporting and consultation office	0%	0%	0%
Discrimination	Stipulation of policy for prohibiting discrimination	0%	0%	0%
	Anti-discrimination procedure	0%	0%	0%
Child labor/Forced labor	Existence of restrictions on engagement in dangerous and hazardous operations when hiring employees under 18 years of age	5%	0%	6%
	Occurrence of child labor and forced labor at suppliers	5%	0%	6%
Right to associate and join labor unions	Periodic implementation of collective bargaining	0%	0%	0%
Occupational health and safety	Industrial accident preventive measures at suppliers	0%	0%	0%
	Emergency plans and procedures during a disaster, etc	0%	0%	0%

*The issues in bold letter are the salient human rights issues identified in the preceding process

• Next Actions

  【Energy business】
  After recognizing the features of each company again, we will pay attention to the information disclosed on the websites, etc., and confirm the status of the measures taken for the themes with issues.

  【Foods business】
  We have been visiting our suppliers regularly to communicate with the person in charge, as well as performing inspections and visits of their manufacturing sites and related facilities. We will reconfirm the actual conditions of the suppliers where the issues have come into view from the response to this SAQ and request corrective measures be taken as required.

  Irrespective of the business sector, we will create a check list regarding human rights issues which can be used at the time of a supplier visit and conduct interviews continuously from the standpoint of human rights in order to organize a system that can effectively prevent and reduce human rights violations.

  We will continue to take measures according to the process of human rights due diligence for the prevention, mitigation, and remediation of the adverse impact on human rights. We will explain the perspective of ”Kanematsu Group's Human Rights Policy” and the “action policy for building a sustainable supply chain,” etc. to suppliers and business partners in order to gain an understanding and aim together for building and growing a sustainable supply chain.

Kanematsu Group's Human Rights Policy

The action policy for building a sustainable supply chain