Social
Human Rights Initiatives
Mitsubishi HC Capital Group recognizes that human rights and labor practices are important issues for achieving our mission and expanding its business footprint globally. We strive to carry out business activities while respecting the human rights of all people.
Human Rights Policy
We have established a policy to proactively and continuously conduct our business activities in consideration of internationally recognized standards and the like concerning human rights, and we will fulfill our responsibility to respect human rights, as is expected of global companies.
Basic Policy on Human Rights
The MHC Group Code of Ethics and Conduct includes sections on "Respect for Human Rights and the Environment," and the Code of Conduct states, under "Human rights" that "Consistent with the fundamental spirit of respect for humanity, no employee engages in any discriminatory action or human rights violation on the ground of gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, race, ethnicity, political opinion, beliefs, religion, social status, lineage, illness, or disability."
Furthermore, we support and respect international norms concerning human rights, labor, the environment and anti-bribery, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Ruggie Principles), the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the Children's Rights and Business Principles. We strive to respect the human rights of all stakeholders under these basic principles on human rights.
The Group's compliance manual states, under "Respect for human rights and the prohibition of discrimination," that "All Group employees must respect basic human rights and must not engage in any discriminatory action or human rights violation on the ground of gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality, race, ethnicity, political opinion, beliefs, religion, social status, lineage, illness, or disability." Within this section, under "Eliminating harassment," it further states, "All Group employees should respect one another as professional partners and must work to eliminate all forms of harassment, including sexual harassment, harassment related to pregnancy, and abuse of power." We also respect the basic rights of workers to organize and to bargain and act collectively.
Human rights due diligence
The Group began conducting human rights due diligence in 2023, targeting customers and suppliers of credit transactions and outside contractors. This was the result of a Company-wide, cross-segment Human Rights Project, which took approximately one year of discussions and system design.
We expanded the scope of our efforts by adding purchase transactions in April 2024 and adding investment transactions in October 2024. In addressing human rights due diligence, the following two elements are incorporated in the design of the system.
- Screening business partners based on information regarding concerns about human rights violations We have established a mechanism for identifying clients, suppliers, and other business partners where information exists regarding concerns about human rights violations in areas of critical risk.
- Eliminating the risk of human rights violations through dialogue with business partners (engagement)
Where concerns have been identified through screening, we open a dialogue (engagement) with the business partners and, by concerning the actual situation and their responses, we encourage them to respect human rights initiatives.
The main objective of human rights due diligence is to prevent and reduce human rights risk in our corporate activities by using dialogue to improve and enhance human rights awareness at our business partners. Through repeated dialogue with business partners, we gain experience in how to handle human rights due diligence and effectiveness.
*Identifying areas of material risk
There are various types of human rights issues. Since it is important for our Group to identify the risks and to respond effectively, we have determined that the following areas present serious risk to the Group in light of the principles and recommendations of the United Nations Global Compact principles.
Status of human rights due diligence for business partners (November 2023-March 2024)
Grievance mechanism
Mitsubishi HC Capital accepts human rights consultations from employees, including those at Group companies, through its whistleblowing systems: the Compliance Hotline System and the Sexual Harassment/Maternity Harassment Hotline System. For consultations from outside the Group, it has joined the Japan Center for Engagement and Remedy on Business and Human Rights (JaCER) and set up a human rights reporting hotline that utilizes JaCER's Engagement and Remedy Platform to accept consultations and inquiries regarding human rights from all stakeholders. Please contact us using the reporting form below.
- This hotline takes great care to protect whistleblowers, and also accepts anonymous reports.
Respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining
We respect the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which states that member countries have obligations to respect, promote, and realize the effective recognition of the freedom of association and collective bargaining. Our Human Rights Policy states as below in 1. Global Standards to be Respected and Upheld.
We respect the human rights described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Bill of Human Rights (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights), and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work which stipulates core labor standards.
Response to the Modern Slavery Act in the UK
Based on the Modern Slavery Act enacted in the UK in 2015, Mitsubishi HC Capital UK PLC, our Group company in the UK has published an Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement on its website about efforts to prevent slave labor, human trafficking, and similar human rights violations.
Please refer to our website for details. (English only)
Human Rights Training
The Group educates and raises awareness among all employees about human rights in order to ensure respect for human rights.
In fiscal 2023, in conjunction with the introduction of human rights due diligence, we conducted an e-learning course (including a comprehension test) on the basics of human rights, including business and human rights, the Group's Human Rights Policy and response to human rights, and strengthening prevention of workplace harassment, which was taken by all of our approximately 5,000 employees in Japan. In addition, we have conducted human rights courses for mid-career hires and e-learning courses on compliance, diversity, people with disabilities, and sustainability, with a total of approximately 27,500 employees learning about human rights.
Furthermore, 14 group training sessions have been held, including a human rights course for new employees, training for managers including harassment prevention, and diversity training, with a total of approximately 400 employees attending.
Dealing with human rights issues (harassment) in the workplace
For a report or consultation regarding human rights violations, such as suffering harassment of any kind and witnessing such behavior, collectively "whistleblowing", the internal whistleblowing hotline (including receiving an anonymous call) or another consultation desk set by the human resource department will investigate the facts and details. We also proactively work to prevent workplace harassment by reinforcing coordination and cooperation with the Compliance Promotion Leaders appointed in each department.
Investigation and verification
- Investigators from the department in charge of the investigation, determined depending on the situation, cautiously address that case, under the advice from outside experts (such as lawyers), taking into account the human rights and privacy of the person who made a report or consultation, collectively "whistleblower".
- Any officers or employees asked to cooperate with the investigation, collectively "cooperators," must respond to that request in good faith and not interfere with the investigation and verification.
- The investigation department determined as above (including the investigators) and the cooperators must not disclose the information learned from their responses to the whistleblowing to any third party without due reason or the whistleblower's consent.
Identification and corrections
- Once the harassment is identified as a result of the investigation and verification, the investigation department shares, without delay, the investigation results with other departments concerned, and those departments must promptly take corrective and preventive actions, including improving the working environment for the whistleblower and the victim.
- The investigation department checks and monitors whether the corrective actions have an effect during and after the implementation period of those measures. If necessary and when appropriate, those measures will be improved.
- The investigation department follows up to ensure that none of the whistleblowers, victims, and cooperators are subject to disadvantageous treatment or workplace bullying because of their whistleblowing or cooperation with the investigation. If the investigation department finds such treatment, it shall take appropriate measures to remedy or restitution.