INTERNATIONAL. Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has published its first Human Rights Report, showcasing the JT Group’s contributions over the last decade to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).
The report marks of tenth anniversary of the UN guide to implementing its ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework. It examines the potential human rights risks arising from the group’s worldwide operations, identifying nine salient human rights issues and detailing the steps JTI is taking to remedy them.
The Human Rights Report sets out the pillars of JT Group’s human rights strategy, “an essential part of its business activities and one of three absolute requirements of its sustainability strategy”.
JT Group President and Chief Executive Officer Masamichi Terabatake said: “This important milestone for the UN and the global business community is an opportunity to highlight our progress and the ongoing process of embedding human rights into every area of our business.”
The JT Group has used the UNGPs as a framework for safeguarding human rights across nine issues: child labour; environmental impacts; fair wage; forced labour; harassment and gender impacts; health and safety; health risk; non-discrimination and equality, and working hours.
JTI Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs and Communications Suzanne Wise commented: “Protecting human rights is everyone’s responsibility: across the private sector, government and civil society. We have a corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and we will continue to be committed to adhering to the UNGPs in every country we operate in.”
A selection of JT Group’s contributions to respecting human rights globally are highlighted below:
ARISE – Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in Support of Education
Since 2011, the ARISE programme in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania and Brazil has successfully removed 60,000 children from child labour, and placed them in formal and informal education.
Through its Agricultural Labour Practice Programme, the Group conducted over 345,000 observation visits to farmers in 2020 and in 2019, the Group was named a leader in safeguarding and advancing children’s rights by the Global Child Forum.
Non-Discrimination and Equality
According to the JT Group, diversity is about recognising differences, whether it be age, gender, self-identification, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, religion or nationality, as well as experience and expertise.
“Inclusion is where these differences are valued and used to enable all our stakeholders to thrive,” JTI stated.
Since 1 January, 2021, JTI employees across the world, regardless of gender, sexual orientation or the way they become parents, have benefited from 20 weeks fully paid parental leave. The group’s headquarters in Geneva has been Equal Pay certified for three years by the Equal Salary Foundation.
In 2020, PRIDE at JTI, an Employee Resource Group with over 600 members, was recognised for its contribution to furthering LGBT+ Inclusion and JT achieved the highest-ranking Gold status in the PRIDE Index 2020 for the fifth consecutive year.
COVID-19
From the onset of the pandemic, the health and safety of the JT Group’s employees, their families and communities became the Group’s top priority.
The Group accelerated the roll-out of the LifeWorks app and the health portal site, Pep Up, which provide all employees with access to information and programmes on mental, physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing.
JT also offered self-assessment questionnaires across the international tobacco business, a stop-gap measure for high-risk countries until it is possible to conduct on-site assessments again.
Click here to view the full JTG Human Rights Report 2021.