Response to Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

ITOCHU is committed to initiatives to ensure that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain and business activities. We are participating in the United Nations Global Compact. Together with this, we are reflecting the concept of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in our business activities. The existing principles of ITOCHU contain initiatives to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking do not occur in our sales activities and supply chain across the world.

• Reference：Status of Initiatives at ITOCHU Europe PLC. (Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement)

Consideration for Foreigners

If foreign workers, interns and trainees are accepted in our supply chain, we pay full attention so that we comply with the labor related laws and ordinances in the country concerned and so that we do not commit acts contrary to the purpose of that acceptance system. We do this from the point of view of respect for human rights and relief because such people are liable to become the target of illegal acts due to their low social and economic status.

Respect for the Rights of Children

ITOCHU supports the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Children's Rights and Business Principles. We respect the four pillars of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - a child's right to life, development, protection and participation.

ITOCHU has adopted the development of the next generation as one part of our Basic Activity Guidelines on Social Contribution. We perform activities to support the healthy development of the young people who will be responsible for the next generation.
Related activities can be found here.

Security Company Appointment Concept

The United Nations adopted the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials in December 1979. This aims to ensure that member states thoroughly implement and promote the appropriate roles of law enforcement officials (e.g., the police and military authorities) and respect and protect the dignity of humans while carrying out their duties. ITOCHU supports the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials in which the United Nations has established the principles on the use of firearms by law enforcement officials under the above code of conduct. We select security companies according to the content of that.

Respect for the Rights of Indigenous People

We recognize that indigenous people have their own culture and history when we conduct business activities in regions where indigenous people live as part of our commitment to respect human rights. We respect and take into consideration the rights of indigenous people established in the laws of the countries and regions where we perform our business activities and international agreements (e.g., the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169). When examining new business investment projects, we also strictly enforce prior checks concerning the impact on the rights of indigenous people by that business.

Human Rights Due Diligence

Initiatives

The ITOCHU Group is fulfilling our responsibility to respect human rights based on The ITOCHU Group Human Rights Policy we formulated in April 2019. Specifically, we identify and evaluate the negative impact from the corporate activities of the ITOCHU Group on human rights that may affect society. We then work to prevent and mitigate that through appropriate means. In addition, we disclose information on the progress and results of our action.

Human Rights Due Diligence Procedure

In FYE 2021, we started building human rights due diligence process in our Food Company that greatly contributes to maintaining a safe and stable lifeline for consumers. We plan to conduct human rights due diligence in all business areas in the coming years.

• Progress of Human Rights Due Diligence 2020 (PDF：373KB)

Meanwhile, in order to mitigate human rights and labor risks in the supply chain, we continuously conduct supply chain sustainability surveys to major business partners in all business areas every year.
Click here for our supply chain and sustainability survey.

Supply Chain Management

For more information see Sustainability in the Value Chain.

Risk Assessments

We conduct risk assessment on human rights including modern slavery and human trafficking. We do this through group company fact-finding surveys in which we visit sites together with external experts as appropriate. This is in addition to our supplier surveys in due diligence. We have also established policies and responses for procurement by product in regards to products with a significant impact on society and the global environment. This is an attempt to reduce the risks in our supply chain.

• Reference：Human Rights Audits in the Poultry Industry in Thailand

Consultation Desk

Employee Consultation Desk

We have established an employee consultation desk called 7830 (Nayami Zero) to respond to worries and consultations from each individual employee. We have also posted the HR Help Guide Book on the Intranet and have widely informed employees about the consultation desk. This means we have established a structure in which it is possible for employees to consult with us.

HR Help Guide Book

Hotline

In addition to a direct hotline to those responsible for compliance in each division, we have also established multiple whistleblowing contacts both in Japan and overseas (including external whistleblowing contacts that utilize specialized company and external lawyers). We accept reports from employees who have an employment relationship with ITOCHU, those who have been dispatched to ITOCHU under a worker dispatch contract from a company that has entered into that contract with ITOCHU (temporary employees), and employees of group companies. It prohibits the unfavorable treatment (e.g., retaliation) of whistleblowers and allows whistleblowers to provide information anonymously.

Flow When a Report Is Received by the Japanese External Report Reception Desk (IntegreX Inc.)

ITOCHU Corporation applied for recognition under the Whistleblowing Compliance Management System (Phase 1: self-declaration of conformity), which was newly introduced by the Consumer Affairs Agency of Japan. Our conformity with certification standards was confirmed and our registration was accepted as of April 10, 2019 (first to be registered in this system in Japan).

Consultation Desk for the General Public (including Stakeholders)

ITOCHU Corporation has established a system to accept opinions, proposals, and grievances and to accept inquiries from the general public and all our stakeholders, as described below.

• Inquiries

Implementation of Fair Recruitment

Human resources are the greatest management resources for ITOCHU – a company deploying a variety of businesses globally. ITOCHU conducts activities to recruit those newly graduating from universities and graduate schools every year. The table below gives our recruitment record over the last three years. (Data of New-Graduates is for the last four years.)

We also offer internships (work experience workshop) every year separate to our recruitment activities. The aim of these internships is to provide support to university and graduate school students in forming their careers. We provide opportunities to deepen knowledge about the business of trading companies and about working in a trading company.

ITOCHU recruits employees chiefly on the basis of their personal character. We recruit employees fairly and impartially without concern for their age, gender, nationality or otherwise. We have provided human rights education with lecturers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Human Rights Promotion Center and have also reflected that content in our interviewer education. We have also established a watchdog system in which employees are selected and notified to serve as watchdogs to establish a fair recruitment screening system.

Training Programs

Sustainability Seminars

We have continued to hold internal seminars since FYE 2008 on human rights issues. The aim of this is to adopt insight and opinions from those outside the company. We made business and human rights (in the supply chain) a theme in FYE 2019. We then looked at the fact consideration for human rights is becoming even more important as a trend in society surrounding sustainability in FYE 2020 and FYE 2021.
We are continuing to conduct awareness activities for business and human rights. The purpose of these is to learn about the latest trends concerning corporate activities and human rights problems and to make use of that in our business as a general trading company which deploys various businesses across the world and which plays an important role in the supply chain.
Seminar Details.

Various Publications

We are endeavoring to raise awareness of human rights. The aim of this is to ensure that human rights violations do not occur in the workplace. We are doing this through various publications that we distribute to all our employees.

• We convey our basic concept on respect for human rights through The ITOCHU Group Code of Ethical Conduct and The ITOCHU Group Human Rights Policy to all our employees.
• We call on our employees not to induce human rights violations in business in our compliance handbook. We do this by establishing pages on respect for human rights and harassment with concrete examples.
• We have described checkpoints in a handbook on communication with our suppliers. This is so that those in charge of surveys can understand the actual state of the management of human rights and labor practices in suppliers even more clearly and so that they can then offer advice on making improvements. This ensures that the supply chain sustainability survey mechanism functions. At the same time, we utilize this in keeping our employees informed.

Countermeasures Against Harassment

ITOCHU is raising awareness on the importance of making systems well-known and engaging in communication through organizational head training. We are doing this so that pregnant employees and employees persevering with their work while being engaged in childcare and nursing care can also contribute to their workplaces with a sense of their work being worthwhile. This is without employees in the workplace being subjected to abuse of authority or sexual harassment (including disadvantaging and harassing employees who are applicable to sexual minorities). Superiors encourage employees with restrictions due to balancing their work with childcare or nursing care to make use of the related systems appropriately. In addition to this, we are also ensuring employees are fully informed about the importance of reviewing work content, work division and work styles over the entire workplace. Furthermore, we have thoroughly established a workplace environment which does not allow discriminatory remarks relating to sexual orientation or gender identification and remarks made under unconscious assumptions of gender segregation. We have also established a desk to receive consultations from employees.
The following are clearly defined as prohibited acts in human rights violations under the work regulations: discrimination relating to work by race, gender, religion, creed, nationality, body, illness, age or any other irrational reason; sexual harassment (including discriminatory behavior and harassment relating to sexual orientation and gender identity); and workplace bullying. The regulations stipulate disciplinary action to be taken against such behavior.

Foreign Technical Intern Trainee Survey on Working Environment

ITOCHU Modepal, a subsidiary to ITOCHU under the Textile Company, conducted a survey on its domestic production contractors, which constitutes of 211 sewing factories. The survey inquired whether or not the contractors were employing foreign technical intern trainees, and if the contractor answered affirmatively, continued to ask how it manages legal compliance to labor standards and health and safety standards specifically regarding the foreign trainees. The latest survey results showed that there are no cases of non-compliance to relevant laws and regulations.

In order to facilitate the survey and enhance its results, ITOCHU's head office Sustainability Management Division held a seminar for sales representatives and production managers prior to sending out the questionnaire. The seminar, entitled "Sustainability Promotion and Foreign Technical Intern Trainees", aimed to enhance participants' understandings of human rights risks and how to mitigate them.

ITOCHU will continue to make Group-wide initiatives in identifying risks along the value chain that can potentially lead to human rights violations, and strive to uphold its commitment to respecting human rights.

Cooperation with Stakeholders