Human Rights Now has published a report, “No Safe Harbor for Forced Labor: The Case for a Law in Japan Banning the Importation of Products of Forced Labor and Lessons and Recommendations for Its Design.”
Download the report here.
For a Japanese version of the report, see this page.
The Asia region has the highest incidence of forced labor in the world, and Japan actively trades with these countries including for products with a high risk of being linked to forced labor, making Japan’s large market effectively funding the production of products by forced labor.
At the same time, Japan is the only G7 country without laws requiring companies to address forced labor in their supply chains. Meanwhile, countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the EU have introduced import restrictions on products produced using forced labor, and to the extent that Japanese companies may be linked to products of forced labor, they are actually subject to these restrictions and are therefore affected.
The report explains the content of each country’s import restrictions and their impact on Japan. It also points out that if Japan does not introduce similar restrictions, products restricted in other countries will be dumped into Japan, potentially reducing the competitiveness of Japanese companies through unfairly low-priced products.
The report also summarizes lessons learned from existing restrictions that Japan should consider when considering introducing an import ban on products of forced labor, as well as points to consider unique to Japan.
As part of its obligation under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we call for the Japanese government to adopt a ban on imports of products linked to forced labor so that it can leverage its economic influence to eradicate exploitation in global supply chains and ensure a level playing field in the global market.