Human Rights Management

Basic Stance

Companies must implement management that respects the human rights of stakeholders within the company and in the value chain pursuant to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
We established the Morinaga Group Human Rights Policy in 2018, which requires that we respect basic human rights and have workplaces that are free of discrimination and harassment. It also requires that we eliminate child labor and forced labor in the supply chain of raw materials procurement partners. In addition to applying this policy to all employees and directors of our group, we also ask all of our business partners, including suppliers, to understand this policy and to work together to respect human rights. Through collaboration and cooperation, we aim to build a responsible value chain.

Human Rights Policy

Human Rights Management System

We have established the Morinaga Group Code of Conduct and Standards of Behavior, the Morinaga Group Human Rights Policy and the Morinaga Group Supplier Guideline. We are working to share our philosophy on human rights defined in these policies through compliance training sessions for all employees and supplier briefings. We have a system in place to discuss the Group’s response at both committees indicated on the right in case of concerns about possible human rights infringements. If such concerns arise within the Group or if a complaint is made to the Helpline, we will report to the Compliance Committee. If these concerns arise outside the company or are made to the JaCER ”Engagement and Remedy Platform”, an external reporting system, the Sustainable Management Division will summarize the information and report to the ESG Committee. Directors who receive such reports from both committees will supervise and provide instructions for the response to the relevant divisions to correct the situation.

Reinforce Human Rights Management

The Morinaga Group respects the human rights of stakeholders within the Group and across its value chain.
The Morinaga Group Human Rights Policy established in 2018 requires that we respect human rights and provide workplaces that are free of discrimination and harassment. It also requires that we eliminate child labor and forced labor in the supply chain. The Group supports initiatives to eradicate child labor and gender equality awareness activities in cacao-producing countries through the One Chocolate for One Smile campaign. We exchange opinions for future initiatives while learning about local conditions from relevant NPOs and NGOs, and we deepen understanding of human rights issues in palm oil producing regions through communication with the RSPO*. We are also assessing and addressing human rights issues in the supply chain through our CSR procurement surveys based on the Supplier Guideline.

  • *RSPO is an acronym for Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which is involved in the development and operation of the sustainable palm oil certification scheme.

Consideration for Employees’ Human Rights

Anti-harassment training

According to our pro-human rights policy, we set the elimination of harassments as a goal of our compliance activities. In our compliance training sessions, we continuously provide educational programs designed to prevent and raise awareness about power, sexual, and other harassments.
These anti-harassment traning programs led by both external and internal lawyers target all directors and employees including general managers, heads of sites, and directors of Morinaga subsidiaries. The lectures are held in person and through live or recorded videos online.
In addition, through periodic trainings, all employees who have direct reports confirm how to respond when they receive a report or communication concerning harassment.

Identifying harassments through compliance survey

The Morinaga Group conducts a compliance survey in every December, targeting all employees working at domestic Group companies (the number of respondents to the survey conducted in December 2022: 3,730), with the view to determine the level of compliance in the Group on a regular basis. In the survey, we attach a special attention to harassing behaviors and include questions asking whether the respondent was directly harassed or saw or heard of a harassing behavior in the last 12 months and in any past year, respectively. Answers to these questions are tabulated separately so that we can have a detailed view of the Company’s level of compliance.
We also ask questions about the corporate culture that respects for workplace compliance as well as the respondent’s view on the Company’s degree of engagement in the compliance management, in an effort to identify our employees’ level of compliance awareness. The summary of the survey results is fed back to all the survey respondents to share the understanding about the extent of the Group’s compliance.

Examples of questions in the compliance survey
  • Have you ever been a victim of a power or sexual harassment?
  • In the workplace, do you consult or confirm with your supervisor or colleague when you have any compliance or work-related questions? Alternatively, does your workplace have an atmosphere (environment) that allows such consultation or confirmation?

Furthermore, as part of our proactive activities for an improvement of corporate culture, these results are used as a basis for holding interviews and opinion exchange sessions with respective business offices and making proposals on possible measures to solve compliance issues.

Online anti-harassment training

Online anti-harassment training

Consideration for Stakeholders in the Supply Chain

Establishment of an External Reporting System

In October 2022, the Morinaga Group joined Japan Center for Engagement and Remedy on Business and Human Rights (JaCER) as one of its inaugural members, and established an external third-party grievance platform as a grievance mechanism for various stakeholders other than employees.
The Company aims to ensure legitimacy of the process and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, objectivity, and transparency of grievance handling by accepting grievances through "Engagement and Remedy Platform", a non-judicial and third-party platform which is in compliance with the United Nations guiding principles on business and human rights.
We will make every effort to help the parties concerned by protecting the personal information of the informant, and upon the informant's request, ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of the content of the report.

Contact Us