Basic ideas

Our basic approach to human rights At Tokai Carbon, we believe that consideration for human rights is vital to realizing our basic philosophy of “Ties of Reliability”. We fully support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which sets forth “a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations” to respect and secure human rights and freedoms.

Respect for human rights

In order to fulfill our corporate responsibility to respect human rights, we conduct business activities with a high sense of ethics based on our Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights. In July 2020, we established the Tokai Carbon Group Global Policy on Human Rights based on these international regulations. Under this policy, we will further promote respect for human rights as the Tokai Carbon Group. The Tokai Carbon Group Human Rights Promotion Committee plays a central role in promoting this global policy and the concept of respect for human rights to all employees of the Tokai Carbon Group, including its domestic and overseas subsidiaries.
We recognize that children are particularly vulnerable to human rights violations and requires special consideration. Therefore, we support the Children’s Rights and Business Principles. We are committed to avoid human rights infringement on children in our business activities and engage in social contribution activities for the realization of their rights.

Policy

Tokai Carbon Group Global Policy on Human Rights

Structures

Organization of the Tokai Carbon Group Human Rights Promotion Committee

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Initiatives

Human rights due diligence

Our Group conducts human rights due diligence to ensure respect for human rights in our business activities. We identify and evaluate the potential human rights risks that may occur throughout the value chain and human rights issues peculiar to our business, and strive to prevent and rectify them. We will continue to identify these issues on the basis of engagement with our employees, suppliers, business partners, and other stakeholders.

Key items in our human rights risk survey include prohibition of discrimination, prohibition of forced labor and child labor, respecting freedom of association and rights to collective bargaining, ensuring appropriate working hours and wages, and upholding occupational health and safety. In FY2020, we investigated country risks at the business sites of Tokai Carbon and Group companies to identify core human rights issues to be addressed at each site. Since FY2020, we have conducted human rights impact surveys for sites of Tokai Carbon and principal Group companies in Japan, and added surveys for principal overseas subsidiaries in FY2023. These assessments verify human rights and labor management systems, whistleblowing procedures, and the absence of legal violations at each site. For any areas requiring further investigation, we conducted detailed inquiries. We confirmed that no significant incidents constituting human rights violations occurred at any of the assessed sites during the four-year period from 2020 to 2023.
We request our business partners to understand and agree with the Tokai Carbon Group Procurement Policy, in order to promote human rights-conscious initiatives.In addition, we conduct a CSR procurement survey on our major suppliers to confirm their status of prevention of human rights violations. There were no incidents of human rights among the business partners surveyed in the past three surveys(FY2020, FY2022, FY2023).
→Implementation of CSR procurement surrey for or business partners

Initiatives for human rights awareness

In order to instill an awareness of respect for human rights among our employees, we conduct educational training for all Group companies and business sites in Japan. As training based on the Tokai Carbon Group Global Policy on Human Rights, we thoroughly disseminate our approach to respecting human rights, and deal with contemporary human rights issues such as Dowa issues (discrimination stemming from the feudal class system in Japan still manifests itself in various forms even today), harassment, and the human rights of people with disabilities and non-Japanese.

Human rights education is also provided when new employees join the Company or when they are promoted to managerial positions. In particular, training at the time of promotion to management positions provides education on human rights issues such as bullying and harassment, clarifying the problems of harassment and including actual examples of how to respond to each case.
The human rights training held in fiscal 2024 was attended by 1,010 employees at business sites and subcontractors of Tokai Carbon, and 716 employees at all Group companies in Japan. Harassment-related training was attended by 242 employees with Tokai Carbon and 167 employees at all Group companies in Japan.

We shall continue to educate our employees not to let any violation of human rights to occur and if any case of suspected human rights violation should occur, the HR Department shall investigate the matter while taking care not to let the whistleblower suffer any disadvantages. If confirmed to be true, then the matter shall be studied and dealt with in accordance with internal regulations. Furthermore, reminders shall be given during human rights training to avoid any future recurrences.

Local Employment and Procurement Policy

In conducting business activities in various countries and regions around the world, we strive to contribute to the local community through local employment and local procurement, and aim to coexist and prosper with local communities. We recognize that hiring local employees and procurement of goods and services will contribute to the sustainable development of the region, leading to human resource development in the region and the revitalization of the local economy.

Collaboration with external organizations

Tokai Carbon participates in the national meetings of the National Association of Corporate Liaison committees for Dowa (social integration district) issues as well as workshop sessions hosted by various groups and administrative bodies that aim to solve human rights issues such as Dowa issues every year, to gather information related to human rights issues. Furthermore, we are a member of Tokyo Liaison Conference for Human Rights Enlightenment Companies (Tokyo Jin-ki ren), and other groups, conducting activities as a specialist in the Liaison Conference, leading discussions on the impact of corporate activities on human rights and various human rights issues.

Performance

Human rights data

【Number of serious cases of human rights violations identified】

【Status of human rights education in FY2024】