June 2, 2006
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) recently expressed its endorsement and support of the United Nations Global Compact as part of the company's efforts to promote the activities of the NYK Group in the sphere of corporate social responsibility (CSR).
The Global Compact was first proposed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999 and formally inaugurated in July of the following year. It calls for participating corporations around the globe to support and put into practice ten key principles in four areas - human rights, labor standards, environment, and anti-corruption. The idea is to ensure the sustainable growth of society through the participating corporations' voluntary activities as good members of society, based on their endorsement and support of the Global Compact.
The NYK Group makes it a basic philosophy in Mission Statement to support people's lives through safe and reliable monohakobi (Japanese for the "transport of goods") and thereby add to its corporate values and contribute to realizing a better global community.
It is in line with this principle that the NYK Group decided to participate in the U.N.'s Global Compact so as to put the ten principles into practice in all aspects of the company's activities as a good citizen of the international community.
---The Global Compact's Ten Principles---
| Principle 1: | Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and |
| Principle 2: | make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. |
Labor Standards
| Principle 3: | Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; |
| Principle 4: | the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor; |
| Principle 5: | the effective abolition of child labor; and |
| Principle 6: | the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. |
Environment
| Principle 7: | Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; |
| Principle 8: | undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and |
| Principle 9: | encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. |
Anti-corruption
| Principle 10: | Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery. |