일본에서의 인권존중책임 관련 동향과 기업들의 인권규범 도입

Abstract

Until now, Japan has been lukewarm about the ESG trend that has been a hot topic recently compared to other countries. However, as interest in ESG investment grows, awareness of the importance of human rights and labor, which can be said to be the core of S (Social) among ESGs, seems to have begun to rise. Since ESG investment places importance on the disclosure of ESG information that can reveal the ESG efforts of investment target companies, there is a continuous discussion about the disclosure of ESG information in Japan. Many countries in Europe have legislated the disclosure of ESG information, and the most famous ESG disclosure legislation in Europe is the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which was enacted in the UK in 2015. And in France, the French human rights due diligence law (Law No. 2017-399) came into force in March 2017. As seen in the legislation of the UK and France related to the disclosure of ESG information, human rights issues are recognized as an important decision factor for ESG. This paper reviews the trends in establishment of international standards related to business and human rights, the background of institutional reforms related to respect for human rights in Japan, recent institutionalization trends related to responsibility to respect human rights, and the status of introduction of human rights norms by Japanese companies. Business and human rights began to be recognized as an internationally important issue with the "Principles on Business and Human Rights", which was unanimously approved in a related resolution by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011. Although this principle itself is a soft law that is not legally binding, it has been made into a hard law in each country. And in the SDGs adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, more than 90% of the 169 targets were related to international human rights. After that, each government establishes an action plan. It tries to make the action plan realistic and effective by understanding the situation surrounding their own business and human rights, and comprehensively reviewing the measures to be taken by the government. In addition, it seeks to promote understanding and awareness of corporate business and human rights so that companies can understand and comply with related laws and policies. The recent enactment of the ʻʻAction Plan on Business and Human Rights (2020-2025)ʼʼ in Japan can be said to be an effort to reflect and realize the efforts of the international community domestically. It is hoped that these efforts will lead to laying the groundwork for realizing sustainable social and economic development by guaranteeing human rights in businesses.