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| Japan does not have a legislative framework specifically on modern slavery however momentum is growing in Japan to tackle human rights violations in supply chains.
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| In October 2020, the Japanese government established an Inter-Ministerial Committee for their National Action Plan (NAP) on Business and Human Rights. Japan’s NAP was modelled off of the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Japan also established a NAP Working Group to facilitate discussion between the relevant government ministries and agencies and the Japanese business section, trade unions and civil society organisations.
In September 2022, the Japanese Government published its human rights guideline for businesses operating in Japan. The guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chain (Guideline) assists businesses in identifying and mitigating its adverse human right impacts in their operations and supply chains.
The Guideline has three broad recommendations for businesses:
- establish a company human rights policy;
- conduct human rights due diligence as a measure to manage modern slavery risks; and
- introduce grievance mechanism to address incidents of adverse impact and provide remedy to affected individuals.
In January 2023, the United States and Japan launched a task force between the two countries to accelerate efforts to address forced labour and other human rights violations in supply chains. It is anticipated that the task force will facilitate dialogue and information sharing.
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| At present, there is no indication of an intent to introduce a legislative framework on modern and business human rights in Japan. However, the taskforce between Japan and the United States may lead to some collaborative measures being canvassed as the United States increasingly moves to crack down on forced labour in China.
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