Respect for Human Rights

As a basic principle of human rights, the “K” LINE Group stipulates at the start of its Charter of Conduct that it will consistently respect human rights and thoroughly consider the personality, individuality, and diversity of its corporate members and improve work safety and conditions to offer them comfort and affluence. Each Group company shares this principle and strives to enhance human rights aware- ness in its working environment and business activities.
Furthermore, the Company clearly states in the “K” Line Implementation Guideline for Charter of Conduct that it does not tolerate child labor or forced labor, while upholding the principle that it will eliminate any discrimination in employment or compensation based on nationality, gender, religion, social class, or other attributes such as race, age, sexual orientation, disability, etc., and ensuring equal opportunity in the implementation of human resource management.

In April 2020, we signed the UN Global Compact and declared our support for the principles related to human rights, “to support and respect the protection of human rights” and “to make sure that we are not complicit in human rights abuses,” and the principles related to labor, “elimination of forced and compulsory labour,” “effective abolition of child labour,” and “elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.”

Furthermore, we formulated the “K” LINE Group Basic Policy on Human Rights, using the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights as a guideline, to reinforce our initiatives for respecting human rights.

Based on the policy above, under the supervision of the officer in charge of promoting “K” LINE’s sustainability, the Corporate Sustainability, Environment Management, IR and Communication Group has become responsible for implementing human rights due diligence in “K” LINE’s business activities. Additionally, the Group is responsible for conducting risk analysis for “K” LINE’s business activities and supply chain and enacting prevention measures and countermeasures when necessary.

In addition, through the following initiatives, we aim to establish an awareness of respect for human rights throughout the "K" LINE Group.

• Implementation of e-learning
• Publishing newsletters

We continuously implement the following to understand the apparent and latent adverse impacts arising in relation to the “K” LINE Group’s business activities.

(1) Conducted paper survey at Group companies in Japan and overseas
(2) Analysis of survey results and identification of weak points
(3) Examination of priority issues and countermeasures in response to the results of (2)

As a result of the aforementioned, we identified the following as salient human rights issues that should be addressed.

The Company aims to maintain and improve working environments and to build good relationships between workers and management. We engage in constructive dialogue combining reciprocal perspectives to generate ideas, which we incorporate into our systems to support work–life balance and other aspects of workers’ lives.

The “K” LINE Group has been increasing its diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and so on, corresponding to the globalization of its business activities, with the expectation that improved diversity may contribute to the creation of new ideas that result in future business growth and the sustainable growth of the Company. It will continue to improve HR systems and work environments so that it can support and promote diversity further.
In addition, seafarers working on board vessels come from different parts of the world, including the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, China, and elsewhere in Asia, as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, and other European nations. United as one, they work day and night to ensure the safety in navigation and cargo operations of our fleet.

“K” LINE has established a dedicated consultation service to address issues of sexual harassment, power harassment, and mental health. Information on how to use these services is provided on the corporate portal site, along with contact details for the consultation service. The Company has set up a system that allows it to solve problems quickly while giving maximum consideration to the privacy of persons who wish to have a consultation, for example, by offering access to both male and female consultants and industrial physicians and so on. In addition, we hold seminars for executives and employees on the subject of preventing harassment.

※1 Postponed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
※2 In fiscal 2021, the seminars did not target all employees, but limited participation to specific management positions. 

In accordance with the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 legislation, Group companies in the U.K. have published the Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement.

●“K” Line Holding (Europe) Limited

Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement