The Oji Group complies with the Oji Group Human Rights Policy and promotes group-wide efforts to respect human rights. To ensure that each and every employee has a correct understanding and awareness of human rights, we will enhance internal education by incorporating education on human rights into diversity training, position-based training at each company, and other training programs to raise the awareness of human rights among all employees.
The Oji Group believes that the responsibility to respect human rights is an important element of the global code of conduct. In August 2020, we established the Oji Group Human Rights Policy based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other sources to further strengthen and implement our initiatives on respect for human rights*1.
Under the policy, the Oji Group will continue its effort to uniformly introduce measures related to human rights and ensure that all domestic and overseas Group companies are made thoroughly aware of the basic policies.
(Please see below for translations of Oji Group Human Rights Policy.)
The Oji Group recognizes respect for human rights as a global code of conduct and we established the Oji Group Human Rights Policy as our basic stance on human rights. We will continue to make further efforts to respect human rights, respect the diverse values of individuals, and contribute to the realization of a society where everyone can manifest their abilities to the fullest.
This policy applies to all executives and employees of the Oji Group and is reflected in all business activities.
Moreover, we expect all stakeholders of the Oji Group to kindly understand and comply with this policy.
We support and respect international norms such as the International Bill of Human Rights*2 (the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work*3, based on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.*4
Moreover, the Group has signed the United Nations Global Compact and supports its 10 principles including human rights. This policy is formulated based on expert advice from inside and outside the Group.
To fulfill our responsibility of respecting human rights in accordance with the procedures described in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we will develop a human rights due diligence system taking into account the perspective of our stakeholders, and will continuously work to identify, prevent, alleviate, and remedy the negative effects on human rights that are caused or exacerbated through our business activities as well as the negative effects that may be directly related to our business activities, products, or services through our business relationships.
The Oji Group will provide suitable education to all executives and employees to promote understanding and effective implementation of this policy.
If it becomes evident that we are causing, are exacerbating, or are directly involved in negative effects on human rights, we will engage in dialogue with those concerned and strive to remedy the situation through appropriate procedures.
If the laws and regulations of a country differ from international human rights norms, we will adhere to the higher standard, and if they contradict each other, we will respect internationally recognized human rights to the maximum extent and prioritize dealing with the most serious negative effects.
The Oji Group operates a Business Ethics Help Line for consultation and reporting that is open to all executives and employees as a mechanism for handling complaints in accordance with our guiding principles. We also respond to reports from outside the Group through our Compliance Contact Point on Contact us of the Oji Holdings website.
The Oji Group discloses and reports on the progress of our human rights initiatives on our website and elsewhere.
Established：August 4,2020
Hiroyuki Isono
Representative Director of the Board
President and Group CEO
Oji Holdings Corporation
We conduct "human rights due diligence" to identify, prevent, mitigate, remedy, and disclose negative human rights impacts related to corporate activities.
This year, we will conduct human rights assessments of domestic and overseas consolidated companies, etc., identify priority risks within the group, and formulate policies and disclose information for the next fiscal year based on the results of the analysis.
When a case of suspected harassment or other human rights violations occurs, Oji Group companies promptly confirm the facts, and if the case is true, take measures to prevent recurrence, caution the perpetrator, and punish him or her. For example, when the Corporate Ethics Helpline receives a report of suspected power harassment, the Compliance Department cooperates with the company in question (or its supervising company) to conduct a thorough investigation, including interviews with the persons concerned and the person to whom the report was made, to determine the facts.
In April 2022, the Sustainability Committee was established, chaired by the Group CEO and composed of Board members. The committee meets twice a year to deliberate and approve progress management and policies on sustainability issues such as climate change risk measures, sustainable forest management, supply chain risk, environmental risk, respect for human rights, and inclusion and diversity. Depending on the importance of the issue, the Board of Directors may discuss and report to the Group Management Committee and the Board of Directors.
The Oji Group conducts human rights education to promote understanding of its policies and raise awareness of human rights. In addition to human rights education at management training sessions (161 participants), the Oji Paper Group has significantly expanded the number of employees receiving human rights education, including Group managers taking the Diversity Management Web-based Training, which focuses on business and human rights (2,479 participants).
Other efforts were made to raise awareness of human rights within the Group, such as by making the Oji Group Human Rights Policy available in multiple languages (translations for 10 additional countries were added) and by publishing a series of articles in Compliance News.
In fiscal 2022, we will continue to promote training, create translated versions of the Human Rights Policy Handbook, and otherwise work to raise human rights awareness.
A compliance awareness survey of all Oji Group officers and employees is conducted periodically in Japan to monitor the status of compliance awareness, including that related to harassment and other improper conduct, and compliance issues at each worksite. In addition, the Internal Audit Department conducts periodic audits of the status of compliance, including that of overseas Group companies. Moreover, we dispatch instructors and conduct compliance seminars, including that on harassment and other improper conduct, at the domestic and overseas Group companies to instill compliance awareness throughout the Group.
The Oji Group's Behavior Standard stipulates that child labor and forced labor are strictly prohibited.
We believe that children's rights are vulnerable to infringement and that special consideration should be given to their human rights.
The Oji Group endorses the content of the United Nations and ILO conventions on children's rights, and takes steps in each region to ensure that children's rights are respected.
Celulose Nipo-Brasileira S.A. in Brazil carries out awareness-raising activities and initiatives, including on health, for students (mainly junior high school students) of local communities.
In the Oji Group's Behavior Standard, the Oji Group stipulates that it will conduct its business activities while respecting the human rights of all stakeholders, including employees.
CENIBRA provides support for agriculture, tree planting, beekeeping, and other activities to support the stable income of farmers in the vicinity of its afforestation areas. In addition, CENIBRA works with the city and local NPOs to support young entrepreneurs by providing free lectures and training, textbooks, meals, and transportation. In addition, CENIBRA promotes local procurement of materials and goods to promote local economic activities.
The Oji Group's Behavior Standard stipulates that we will not engage in any acts of harassment, including power harassment and sexual harassment, or invasion of privacy, and that we will not allow others to do so. We have also established "Harassment Prevention Regulations" in our employment regulations, and are working to prevent harassment, which is a familiar violation of human rights.
The Oji Group respects the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. There are labor unions organized by employees in the Group, mainly at major Group companies including Oji Materia, Oji Container, Morishigyo Group, Oji Nepia, Oji F-Tex, Oji Imaging Media, Oji Green Resources, Oji Paper, Oji Management Office, and Oji Logistics, and labor-management agreements are made and entered through collective bargaining and labor-management consultations.
The management and the Oji Paper New Labor Union, the labor union with the largest number of members (a total membership of 2,161 as of June 1, 2022 with the union enrollment rate of 98.9%) have confirmed in the preamble to the labor-management agreement that they “recognize the social responsibility and missions of the company, admit that the improvement in employees’ labor conditions and the prosperity of the company are basically dependent on each other, and strive to cooperate to establish a stable labor relationship based on mutual trust and understanding”. Both the parties negotiate over salaries, bonuses, and benefit packages as labor conditions on an equal footing.
We hold regular meetings of labor management committees throughout the Group, in-house companies, and in-house offices to share management information and discuss issues in order to build sound labor management relations.
In October 2020, we established the Oji Group Health Declaration, and under the leadership of our Chief Health Officer (Group CEO), we have been working to ensure the health of our employees. Since FY2021, the company has been certified as a "Corporation with Excellent Health Management (Large Corporation Category)".
Some of our overseas business sites are located in countries where HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are key problems. The Oji Group is proactive in taking actions to solve these global health problems. For our employees, we provide regular health examinations, including chest X-ray tests for the early detection of tuberculosis, and conduct activities to prevent the onset of diseases. Going forward, we will also be proactive in taking initiatives such as support for local infection control activities.
For expatriate employees, we conduct medical checkups, vaccinations, and mental health assessments before dispatching, and we provide regular medical checkups and appropriate guidance during the mission.
Overseas offices are implementing health and sanitation improvement programs for the local communities.
In addition, overseas plantation companies provide medical support such as health checkups, opening of clinics and emergency transport support in areas where access to public services is difficult due to the medical situations of local communities.
In the Oji Group's Behavior Standard, the Oji Group stipulates that, as a member of the international community, we shall respect the culture, customs, and values of each country and region, and shall work in good faith and in concert with the people of each country to develop our business.
We take initiatives for respecting human rights in our global activities. As one measure, in our business activities in regions with indigenous peoples, we consider the laws of the regions and the internationally determined rights of the indigenous peoples based on our understanding of the unique culture and history of each people. We also affirm the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC).