JEITA organizes a workshop on human rights policy establishment for SMEs with ILO and Sharoushi Federation

TOKYO (ILO News)—The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA, Chairperson: Kazuhiro Tsuga), a trade association consisting of electronic components and digital devices manufacturers, held an industry-wide event in Tokyo on 18 December 2024, in cooperation with the ILO and the Japan Federation of Labour and Social Security Attorney’s Associations (Sharoushi Federation). A total of 19 onsite and online participants from 16 companies took part in this workshop.

This event, organized by the Sustainable Procurement Partnership Vision Task Force under the CSR Committee of JEITA, aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises and other domestic companies to deepen their understanding of responsible business conduct and enable sustainable procurement.

Following the sessions for corporate executives in November as a first step, the session today as a second step saw the companies’ responsible officers engage in group discussions to consider appropriate organizational structures and procedures for formulating corporate human rights policies so that they could internally and externally communicate their commitment to respecting human rights and labour rights.

Before the group work, Ryusuke Tanaka from the ILO Office for Japan explained key elements in developing human rights policies. Touching upon departmental liaison, budget securing, and other relatable topics for the participants, he said, “No company is entirely immune to human rights risks. We encourage you to reflect on how your company can fulfil its responsibilities to respect human rights and labour rights - consider how these efforts can be aligned with your existing corporate creed and management philosophy, and how such alignment could contribute to the company’s sustainable growth.”

© ILO/Chizuka

© ILO/Chizuka