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Human rights

Strategy

Background and Aim

  • There is growing interest and rising expectations both within and outside the company regarding efforts to address human rights issues through our business activities.
  • In particular, as a corporate group that connects people, towns and communities to the future, we have a responsibility to realize a sustainable society in which everyone can experience wellness.
  • Therefore, acting with respect for the dignity and basic human rights of all people is an essential premise for the business activities of our Group.

Impact on Business Models and Value Chains

When formulating our Human Rights Policy, our Group investigated human rights risks throughout our entire value chain.
Based on a survey focused on “severity of potential human rights impact (scale, scope, and difficulty of remediation)” and “possibility of human rights impact (country-specific situation and industry-specific situation),” we have identified risks in terms of overseas operations and employment of foreign workers.
We conduct human rights due diligence on any elements identified and take corrective action if necessary.

Risks Opportunities
  • If respect for the fundamental human rights of all officers and employees, the prevention of harassment, and the establishment of a comfortable working environment are insufficient, employee engagement may decline.
  • If our suppliers and business partners fail to comply with our Human Rights Policy and Procurement Guidelines, which call for them to refrain from unfair labor practices, there is a possibility that reputational risks may arise.
  • Respecting the human rights of various stakeholders is the foundation for the Group's business development and expansion, and leads to increased sustainability for both the Company and its stakeholders.

Indicators and Targets

Targets, KPIs, and Performance Data

Item Target for 2030 Unit FY2023 results
KPICreation of a human rights due diligence system Establishment of targets for each fiscal year -
  • (1)
    In-house: Surveyed the working status of foreign employees
  • (2)
    Outside the company: Surveyed the working status of technical intern trainees at suppliers
  • (3)
    Conducted on-site assessments at overseas locations to identify human rights risks in overseas operations
  • (4)
    Established and launched a new human rights consultation desk
KPIPercentage of participation in human rights training 100 %

100*1

  • *1
    Participation rate for the online Human Rights, Wellness, and D&I Training conducted jointly by the Group

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for priority issues (materialities) up to 2030

Other Performance Data

Item Unit FY22/3
results
FY23/3
results
FY24/3
results
FY25/3
results
Human rights training (Group-wide) New employees Participation rate % 100 100 100 100
Number of participants 280 263 304 348
Newly appointed (core) managers Participation rate % 100 100 100 100
Number of participants 149 168 217 220
Mid-career hires Participation rate % 100 100 100 100
Number of participants 195 262 269 326

ESG Data (Social)

Initiatives

Communication and Response Regarding Human Rights Issues

Our Group engages with stakeholders on the theme of human rights in a variety of ways, both inside and outside the company.

Participation in the Human Rights Due Diligence Promotion Council

Our Group participates in the Human Rights Due Diligence Promotion Council for the construction and real estate sector, which consists of nine companies in total: three general contractors that serve as our suppliers and six real estate developers, including our own company.
The council was established to fulfill the corporate responsibility to avoid infringing on the human rights of others and to prevent, mitigate, and rectify adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved as required by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
We strive to prevent human rights abuses including forced labor in the industry as a whole.

News release (Japanese text only)

Exchanges of Opinion on Human Rights Issues

Through the Human Rights Due Diligence Promotion Council, whose active participants include construction and real estate companies, the Group implements engagement initiatives with NGOs, lawyers, and other external bodies to prevent adverse impacts on human rights with respect to the acceptance of foreign technical interns and human rights issues related to Group business activities. During the engagement, we received feedback regarding issues such as forced labor and working conditions in the Asia-Pacific region, where our company also conducts business.
Based on the results of the engagement, we will reflect these insights in our future activities and plans, and promote appropriate business practices in line with international standards.

Acceptance of, and Communication with, Foreign Technical Interns

Nomura Real Estate Amenity Service, a member of our Group, accepts foreign technical interns from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar. To ensure that interns can work with confidence, the Company gives due consideration to the improvement of their working environments, the thorough implementation of safety standards, the provision of appropriate living arrangements, and other key factors. To elicit opinions, requests, consultations, and concerns from trainees, we provide periodic opportunities for interviews with their superiors (line care), and the Human Resource Development Section staff and technical interns (those who have completed their technical internship training) provide lifestyle support and mental care (staff care) to the trainees when patrolling their dormitories. We also hold Japanese language study sessions (once a week), Japanese culture experiences (monthly), and social gatherings (once a year).
In addition, in our Group’s inclusive design workshop initiatives, we invited foreign technical interns to participate and work together with us. Through these shared hands-on experiences, all participants considered the perspectives needed and the actions to be taken to create a work environment at BLUE FRONT SHIBAURA where everyone can work comfortably.
Going forward, we are also considering further expanding the number of trainees we accept and, moving forward, recognize the need to be more considerate of the human rights of, and communicate better with, technical intern trainees.

Japanese cultural experience session

Human Rights Due Diligence-driven Issue Identification

Human Rights Initiatives to Date

Period Initiatives
FY21/3
  • Established the Human Rights Subcommittee to strengthen and promote activities in accordance with international norms on human rights and began formulating the Human Rights Policy
  • Conducted sustainability monitoring interviews with 10 major suppliers
FY22/3
  • Formulated and announced the Nomura Real Estate Group Human Rights Policy
  • Identified prominent human rights issues within the Group
  • Conducted a Group-wide desktop survey to ascertain the current status of human rights issues within the Group
  • Conducted a detailed survey, including interviews and questionnaires, involving seven Group companies, six in Japan and one in Vietnam, in the property and facility management business, hotel business, and overseas business, as these are operations with relatively high human rights risks
arrow
Identified four priority issues
  • (1)
    Wellness and human rights of employees
  • (2)
    Overseas business and non-Japanese workers
  • (3)
    Human rights in the supply chain
  • (4)
    Remedial measures
FY23/3
  • Implemented various measures, mainly through the Wellness and D&I Management Committee (measures such as encouraging employees to take paid leave)
  • Incorporated human rights elements into project evaluation criteria for overseas operations
  • Created checklists to confirm human rights risks in the Company
  • Created and distributed an interview sheet for suppliers to use in determining the employment status of non-Japanese technical interns
  • Reformed the internal reporting system for workers at overseas bases and announced the reforms
  • Formulation of a Three-Year Roadmap for priority issues
FY24/3
  • Implemented various measures, mainly through the Wellness and D&I Management Committee (measures such as increasing the rate of one-on-one meetings)
  • Started implementation of overseas project evaluation criteria incorporating human rights elements
  • Started using human rights risk checklists and conducting face-to-face interviews with some business companies
  • Conducted direct meetings with suppliers in the presence of an external consulting firm
FY25/3
  • Implemented various initiatives, led mainly by the Human Resources, Wellness, and D&I Committee (including measures to raise awareness of inclusive design)
  • Conducted on-site assessments at overseas locations (Vietnam) to identify country-specific human rights risks
  • Conducted desktop assessments based on overseas project evaluation criteria that incorporate human rights factors
  • Began examining the establishment of a traceability framework for timber procurement
  • Established and launched the Nomura Real Estate Group Human Rights Consultation Desk
  • Update of the three-year action roadmap

Four Priority Issues

The Group is establishing a human rights due diligence process based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for identifying, preventing and mitigating negative impacts on human rights, directly related to our business, products, and services as a result of our business activities and relationships.
With the cooperation of external experts, we completed establishment of the priority issues to be addressed on human rights due diligence by fiscal year ended March 2022 and formulated a three-year roadmap of initiatives (hereinafter, the “Three-Year Roadmap”). Specifically, we selected four priority issues: (1) employee wellness and human rights, (2) overseas business and non-Japanese workers, (3) human rights in the supply chain, and (4) remedial measures, and we designated departments with jurisdiction over these issues.We have been implementing a full-scale human rights due diligence and a PDCA cycle based on the roadmap since fiscal year ended March 2023.

Update of the Three-Year Roadmap

The fiscal year ended March 2025 marked the final year of the Three-Year Roadmap. In addition to reviewing the progress made to date, we analyzed changes in the external environment and social conditions, and conducted on-site assessments at our overseas locations to identify new issues. Based on these findings, we updated our risk map and the list of salient human rights issues.
Until now, human rights issues had been categorized into “four priority issues.” However, during this update, we reclassified the issues by domestic and international rights holders, with the aim of clarifying which rights holders each initiative is intended to support.

For the human rights issues identified, we engaged in dialogue with internal and external stakeholders to confirm alignment between the priority issues and actual circumstances on the ground. These findings were incorporated into the new Three-Year Roadmap, which was implemented starting in the fiscal year ending March 2026.
Furthermore, going forward, we will also focus on the interrelationship between human rights issues and climate change and AI.

To ensure alignment between priority issues and real-world conditions, we held discussions with the following stakeholders:

  • 1.
    Internal stakeholders:We held discussions with the Nomura Real Estate Employees’ Union and confirmed that there were no discrepancies in the understanding of human rights issues affecting our employees.
  • 2.
    External stakeholders:We held discussions with the Tokyo Occupational Safety & Health Center (a certified NPO), and with Akiko Sato, attorney-at-law and member of Human Rights Now (a certified NPO). These discussions confirmed that our understanding of human rights issues aligns with conditions in the field and provided insights into the direction in which we should strengthen our efforts, including measures to address human rights risks in our overseas operations.

Scope of Human Rights Due Diligence

Target businesses Real estate development business, real estate management business (especially the hotel business), overseas business (especially in Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines)
Target people Employees of the Group (especially foreign national employees)
Employees of our suppliers (especially foreign technical intern trainees)
Customers and neighbors
Human rights risk indicators
  • (1)
    Child labor
  • (2)
    Forced labor and human trafficking
  • (3)
    Discrimination of any kind
  • (4)
    Harassment
  • (5)
    Appropriate working environment
  • (6)
    Appropriate working conditions
  • (7)
    Life and health of customers and users
  • (8)
    Life and health of neighbors, etc.
  • (9)
    Background of site acquisition
  • (10)
    Privacy

Wellness and Human Rights of Employees

Wellness Management

Overseas Business and Non-Japanese Workers

Preventing Human Rights Risks in Our Own

Corrective measures that our Group takes to address human rights risks include utilizing human rights checklists when hiring foreign employees and, in the event of a conflict between international law and local law, incorporating into contracts a statement that international law takes precedence.
In order to more clearly understand the negative impact on human rights, we conducted the following two human rights risk assessments in fiscal year ended March 2025 on overseas business, and non-Japanese workers, which is one of the four priority issues.

  • (1)
    Conducted human rights due diligence in Vietnam to identify country-specific risks in our overseas business, including interviews and dialogues with our local subsidiary and partner companies.
  • (2)
    Conducted a desktop assessment in Vietnam as part of human rights due diligence based on the overseas project evaluation criteria.

The assessments described in (1) and (2) above confirmed that no significant human rights risks were identified as of 2024. Going forward, in order to further deepen our understanding of country-specific risks and expand the scope of target countries, we will conduct on-site assessments through direct visits to each country in which our Group operates. Through these efforts, we will continue to enhance and improve the sophistication of our human rights due diligence in overseas operations.

Human Rights in the Supply Chain

Assessing Human Rights Risks in the Supply Chain

To address human rights issues in the supply chain, our Group has distributed its Procurement Guidelines to more than 4,600 suppliers and requested that each company respect human rights. For the questionnaire survey on the Procurement Guidelines conducted in the fiscal year ended March 2022, we added items related to foreign technical interns in the fiscal years ended March 2023 to March 2025 and distributed the questionnaire to approximately 300 core suppliers. In the fiscal year ended March 2025, we received responses from 157 companies (67% of core suppliers). Based on the analysis of these responses, we will conduct follow-up assessments with 12 companies to confirm the status of their initiatives. We will also conduct monitoring meetings to encourage the development of internal systems and the promotion of measures to mitigate human rights risks, as well as study sessions aimed at raising human rights awareness.
Furthermore, in the fiscal year ended March 2025, we held a study session for approximately 150 suppliers on the importance of human rights due diligence and on the Procurement Guidelines, thereby promoting greater understanding and raising awareness.

Going forward, we will expand the scope of our efforts and further strengthen our human rights due diligence framework as we continue to address human rights issues in the supply chain.

Pursuing Risk Level-based Engagement

Remedial Measures

Establishment of a Grievances Mechanism

The Group has set up multiple points of contact, which are accessible to all employees regardless of employment status, for consultation on human rights issues and has also established a point of contact for reporting on human rights abuses by Group employees and other acts that may conflict with the Group’s code of ethics.
Reports and consultations received through these points of contact are accepted anonymously and remain strictly confidential. If, as a result of investigation, there is a clear violation of respect for human rights, the Group takes appropriate action against the perpetrator, and protects the victim and whistleblower so that they are not treated prejudicially for having made a report.
In this way, by setting up multiple points of contact for consultation, the Group has created an environment where it is easy to seek advice, and is working for the early detection and resolution of any problems and taking measures to prevent reoccurrence.
The points of contact for consultation report semi-annually to the Risk Management Committee and report on legal violations and fraud to the Risk Management Committee as well as the Audit & Supervisory Committee, and management reviews the operational status of the points of contact.
In fiscal year ended March 2025, there were 109 consultation matters relating to discrimination and harassment, and we investigated the facts and took appropriate action.
Going forward, we plan to strengthen the system to improve the effectiveness of the points of contact for consultation.

Human Rights Consultation Service

Contact Subject Outline
Human Rights and Harassment Consultation Desk In-house/
external
Group officers and employees A consultation desk for human rights and harassment-related matters
Nomura Real Estate Group Helpline In-house
(domestic)
Group officers and employees (who have been affiliated with a Group company within one year of the date of consultation, reporting, etc.) A consultation/reporting desk for matters relating to misconduct or violations of business-related laws, regulations, company rules, operating rules, etc.
Nomura Real Estate Group Global Helpline In-house
(international)
Officers and employees directly employed by overseas subsidiaries of the Group A consultation/reporting desk for matters relating to misconduct or violations of business-related laws, regulations, company rules, operating rules, etc.
Nomura Real Estate Group Human Rights Consultation Desk In-house
(domestic)
All stakeholders Human rights consultation hotline for stakeholders connected with our business

Nomura Real Estate Group Helpline

Human Rights Training for Group Officers and Employees

Rank-Specific Training

To deepen understanding of respect for human rights, the Group makes use of opportunities such as, rank-specific training, to conduct human rights education. In the fiscal year ended March 2025, the participation rate in human rights–related training for Group employees reached 100%.
In addition, the Nomura Real Estate Group Code of Action Handbook is distributed to all employees to disseminate knowledge, and training on discrimination and harassment is conducted for all employees. The Group’s internal newsletter, which is published regularly, also contains provisions requesting the understanding of and consideration for LGBT+* individuals.

  • *
    LGBTQ+: An umbrella term for sexual minorities, representing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and “+,” which includes identities that do not fall within these categories.