Opinion Concerning Concrete Matters and Measures to Be Incorporated into the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights

Opinion (full text) (PDFファイル;64KB)

• Japanese

  November 21, 2019

Japan Federation of Bar Associations

The Japanese Federation of Bar Associations (the “JFBA”) prepared its “Opinion Concerning Concrete Matters and Measures to Be Incorporated into the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights” on November 21, 2019. We submitted it to the Prime Minister, the Commissioner general of the National Police Agency, the Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency, the Commissioner of the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency, the Minister of Health Labor and Welfare, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Minister of the Environment, Minister of Defense and the Commissioner of the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency on November 25, 2019.

Summary of the Opinion

With respect to concrete matters and measures for the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as “NAP”) to disseminate and implement the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as “UNGP”), the JFBA demands that the Japanese government incorporate the following in its plan:

1. Ensure that national policies of Japan including its various initiatives in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015 (including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); hereinafter referred to as “SDGs”) shall be consistent, in line with the gist of the UNGP;
2. Incorporate measures to respond to adverse impacts on human rights as a result of business activities both inside and outside of Japan;
3. Clarify the formulation and updating processes;
4. In order to concretize the content of the State’s obligations to protect human rights, identify gaps in the measures, as well as sort out the relationship between each principle of the UNGP and such measures and identify performance indicators and relevant government entities for each of such measures; and
5. In light of the gaps between the existent measures and the international human rights standards required by the UNGP, present a concrete action plan to implement the UNGP.