Konica Minolta assesses slavery actions

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Konica Minolta Australia has submitted its first Modern Slavery Statement, covering the financial year 2019-2020, and which sets out the actions it took to address modern slavery risks in the business and supply chain for the 12 months.

Slavery: Action needed
Slavery: Action needed
 
 

The company says the statement represents a significant milestone in its advocacy and leadership in this area, demonstrating the work it has undertaken and its ongoing commitment to action and awareness. Under former managing director Dr David Cooke Konica Minolta Australia took a serious and active position in regard to social justice.

Yohei Konaka, the new managing director of Konica Minolta Australia, said: “Konica Minolta Australia recognises the significant human cost of modern slavery, which involves serious crimes and grave forms of human rights abuses. We are committed to providing support to victims of modern slavery and related harms and amplifying their voices and lived experiences through our engagement with community partners and multi-stakeholder initiatives.”

Konica Minolta has identified three broad categories within its supply chain and conducts ongoing human rights due diligence across these areas to identify and address the risks of modern slavery, including offices, operations, and service providers; the goods and services it sells both includes KMI manufactured products and third party products including 3D printers and wide format printers; and goods it doesn’t sell, including brand-affiliated merchandise and uniforms.

Konica Minolta Australia says it assesses the effectiveness of its actions through a constant focus on the purpose of the legislation and its programme of action, which is to build, implement, and manage a programme of continuous improvement that delivers on Konica Minolta Australia’s commitment to ethical sourcing and protecting human rights in its operations and supply chains and combatting modern slavery.

Yohei Konaka said: “Konica Minolta Australia is committed to working with its suppliers and other stakeholders to ensure it has a positive social impact on those within its sphere of influence and has for many years both in Australia, and globally, been working to protect and support human rights within its business, supply chain and community.”

Konica Minolta Australia advocates for the eradication of all forms of modern slavery and played a role in the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 in Australia through evidence given to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into establishing a modern slavery act in Australia.

The journey began in 2015 with the publication of the Ethical Sourcing Roadmap, followed by Konica Minolta Australia’s Human Rights Position Statement and Supplier Code of Conduct in 2016, all of which culminated in Konica Minolta Australia receiving the Anti Slavery Australia Freedom Award in 2017 and the Australian Human Rights Award for Business in 2018.

The statement also includes a number of case studies of how Konica Minolta has worked and aims to continue working with its suppliers, old and new, from the tender process for its new sensitive freight logistics supplier, which incorporated ethical sourcing requirements, to the engagement with its uniform supplier at their premises in Sydney.

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