Mazda regards human rights as fundamental to its corporate activities. Mazda believes that a friendly, productive workplace in which employees respect the dignity and individuality of their coworkers is essential. Such a workplace harnesses the capabilities of its employees and is a source of great strength for the organization.

With this in mind, Mazda adopted the Human Rights Declaration in November 2000.

The declaration states that Mazda must never tolerate human rights violations of any kind, including discrimination and bullying on the basis of race, nationality, faith, gender, social status, family origin, age, physical disability or sexual orientation, and also states that Mazda is determined to eliminate human rights violations from business activities both inside and outside the Company. Based on the notion that there is no end to human rights efforts, the Company continues its initiatives with the ultimate goal of zero problems.

Mazda recognizes that, from the perspective of human rights due diligence,*1 a system and mechanism to grasp the activity status and to identify, report, correct and follow-up actual and potential negative impacts are required. The scope of human rights activities has been expanded to include domestic and overseas Group companies as well as suppliers, with the following efforts being conducted.

In order to increase employee awareness of Mazda's fundamental approach to respect for human rights, Mazda felt it was necessary to further clarify Company policies and standards for action among employees. Mazda established the Guidelines on Eliminating Sexual Harassment in 1999 and the Rules to Eliminate Human Rights Violations in 2000, prohibiting any activity that may infringe on an employee's human rights, and created a list of rules and guidelines to ensure a good working environment. In general, these rules and guidelines will be reviewed during the annual plan formulation for each fiscal year, with consideration to internal and external circumstances at the time, and if necessary, will be revised accordingly.

The Human Rights Committee, comprising executive officers and division general managers, deliberates on human rights activities, and based on their decisions the Human Resources Office promotes human rights education activities and resolves issues throughout the Group. Each division manager leads the division's activities as the human rights promotion officer at Mazda Motor Corporation, while the person in charge of human rights leads activities at each Mazda business location as well as at Group companies in Japan and overseas. Exchanges of opinions among Group companies take place on a regular basis. Serious human rights violations within the Group are reported to Mazda Motor Corporation human resources officer or other senior executives, providing a framework that enables the implementation of Group-wide solutions. For the suppliers, a promotion framework for human rights initiatives has been established through the Mazda Supplier CSR Guidelines.

Mazda has set up a Human Rights Counseling Desk and a Female Employee Counseling Desk to receive human rights consultations from employees, and deal with and resolve human rights issues by providing advice, early relief from human rights violations, etc.

Mazda has set out regulations mandating strict confidentiality, guaranteeing immunity from reprisals, and ensuring that no disadvantage will accrue to employees who request consultations. Counseling is offered in various forms, such as face-to-face, by telephone, or by e-mail. The Counseling Desk works to promptly respond to consultations, with the goal of rapidly improving the work environment for the affected employee. Necessary support is also offered in order to ensure respect for human rights in the entire workplace in question.

These counseling desks are managed by the Human Resources Office, and following set protocol, all received cases are followed up until they are resolved. Also, the results of handling these cases are recorded and managed in accordance with the stipulated procedure, and reported to the Human Rights Committee. These records are used to formulate more effective Company-wide policies and implement educational activities.

To raise awareness of human rights, Mazda requires all employees to consider human rights issues by participating in training programs and educational activities.

The status of employees' human rights awareness is gauged based on the results of questions related to employee human rights included in the Employee Engagement survey.*2 These results are referred to during revisions of activities and improvement measures.

Based on its "ONE MAZDA" concept, Mazda is committed to promoting human rights activities in its Group companies. Based on the Mazda Human Rights Declaration's basic principles and with reference to the Rules to Eliminate Human Rights Violations, the Guidelines on Eliminating Sexual Harassment, and other guidelines, Mazda Group companies are maintaining a set of rules and guidelines that take into account the conditions in each country where they are applied. Through these efforts, the Company strives to protect human rights at all companies throughout the Group.

There is also regular information exchange between human rights officers at Mazda Motor Corporation and each Group company. Depending on the circumstances of the particular company, Mazda Motor Corporation may also take steps such as providing training/education tools or dispatching instructors. During FY March 2012, Mazda undertook various measures including human rights training for the managers of three Group companies, the introduction of e-learning programs at subsidiaries engaging in product development, and the provision of materials for Human Rights Meetings to domestic and overseas Group companies. Problems arising at Group companies are reported through the pertinent superiors, but in cases where this is difficult, direct reporting from employees is accepted via the Human Rights Counseling Desk, the Female Employee Counseling Desk, Mazda Global Hotline, etc.

Mazda actively collaborates with local governments, companies and other external organizations to implement human rights protection activities for local communities.

Other efforts towards respect for human rights include social contributions such as measures against poverty.

In March 2008, Mazda became the first corporation in Japan to be awarded the Human Rights Merit Award by Japan's Ministry of Justice and the National Federation of Consultative Assemblies of Civil Liberties Commissioners.