Initiatives to Ensure Respect for Human Rights

“Through innovation we will create a future of joy and well-being for all.” That is how the Sumitomo Rubber Group defines its Purpose in “Our Philosophy,” the overall framework for our corporate philosophy. We deem it important to understand human resource-related issues that may arise in connection with our businesses, which are now undertaken in countries around the globe. We believe that taking appropriate action informed by the accurate understanding of these issues will provide us with a basis for our business activities aimed at embodying our Purpose.

Accordingly, we will study the impact of our operations on human rights of our diverse stakeholders, within and outside the Group, even as we strive to ensure respect for human rights in all value chain processes ranging from the procurement of raw materials to the provision of products and services.

Our initiatives to ensure respect for human rights are guided by the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s Code of Conduct, which informs its business activities in the aspect of corporate ethics and clearly states that we must “maintain wholesome workplaces where no person is ever harassed or discriminated against for reasons relating to ideology, faith, religion, race, ethnicity, skin color, nationality, language, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identify, age, mental or physical handicap, employment situation or hiring circumstances, etc.” Based on this statement, we take great care ensuring that no employee will suffer from the violation of their human rights.

Furthermore, a handbook on human resource and labor management has been distributed to all those in managerial positions. We also help raise their awareness of relevant topics via training and lecture sessions. In these ways, we are striving to create a working environment that tolerates no human rights violations or harassment and empowers every employee to work energetically.

In addition, we honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and other human rights-related protocols as well as the various treaties of the International Labour Organization in addition to supporting the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact. Accordingly, the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s concepts regarding human rights are in line with the international standards named above.

Looking ahead, we will strive to further strengthen initiatives undertaken to ensure respect for human rights throughout the entire Sumitomo Rubber Group so that we remain a company capable of delivering a “future of joy and well-being” and deserving of the trust of our stakeholders.

Based on international standards stipulated by the abovementioned treaties and principles, the “Sumitomo Rubber Group Human Rights Policy” has been established after obtaining opinions from the Board of Directors and other important bodies. This policy tangibly describes the Sumitomo Rubber Group’s concepts on respect for human rights and serves as the highest policy governing all other regulations and guidelines enforced within the Group regarding how we ensure respect for human rights.

The “Human Rights Subcommittee,” which operates under the “Sustainability Promotion Committee” chaired by Sumitomo Rubber Industries’ officer in charge of ESG, is tasked with playing a central role in preventing the occurrence of human rights-related issues, providing remedies for such issues and otherwise ensuring respect for human rights. This subcommittee pushes ahead with these initiatives by acting in collaboration with relevant departments and companies across the Sumitomo Rubber Group. Currently, we are also striving to establish and implement a human rights due diligence process. We also plan to conduct surveys and assessments encompassing all Group companies at home and abroad in 2024 to determine human rights-related risks that they may be confronting. Thus, we aim to establish a human rights due diligence process in the same year and launch the implementation of human rights due diligence in 2025.

The Sumitomo Rubber Group has distributed its Procurement Guidelines to suppliers. These guidelines feature our Code of Conduct, which includes principles related to respect for human rights. We also work with suppliers to ensure that our guidelines are fully understood and tangibly practiced by their own suppliers.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries has made the Basic Perspective on Consideration for Human Rights a part of its Human Rights Policy. In 2021, we provided all officers and managerial employees with training focused on instilling literacy regarding the LGBTQ community. In addition, the training refreshed the recognition of the above Basic Perspective among employees and deepened their understanding of it. We have also created web-based educational content, which comprises a total of five consecutive sessions addressing human rights-related issues, including challenges members of the LGBTQ community are facing. This content is now posted on the in-house bulletin and available to all employees.

In 2022, we implemented learning sessions aimed at securing employee understanding of the Basic Perspective on Consideration for Human Rights, which now constitutes an integral part of our business operations. These sessions were held in conjunction with the revision of our Code of Conduct, targeting all Group employees. To address human rights-related issues, we are currently engaged in the initiatives listed below.

• Maintain wholesome workplaces where no person is ever harassed or discriminated against for reasons relating to ideology, faith, religion, race, ethnicity, skin color, nationality, language, social class, gender, sexual orientation, gender identify, age, mental or physical handicap, employment situation or hiring circumstances, etc.
• Select contractors and suppliers upon confirming that they give due consideration to the prevention of human rights violations, human trafficking, child labor, forced labor, the use of conflict minerals, environmental destruction, corruption, etc.

The Sumitomo Rubber Group is striving to raise employee awareness regarding workplace bullying and harassment, as part of efforts to create an environment free of human rights violations or harassment and ensure that all employees can work vibrantly. To this end, we have designated October as “Legal and Corporate Ethics Compliance Month,” in which we undertake a variety of activities to secure strict compliance.

Furthermore, we implement grade-specific training programs focused on addressing topics regarding sexual harassment and power harassment to help employees develop their awareness. We are also utilizing e-learning programs. In these ways, we strive to ensure that none of our employees suffer from human rights violations. In particular, programs targeting managerial employees are designed to zoom in on actual instances of bullying and harassment so that participants can be well-versed in these issues.