"「イスラエルの虐殺に加担しないで」ファナックに対する署名活動に賛同広がる。産業用ロボットの世界4大メーカーの一つ," 15 March 2024

[Japanese-to-English translation by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

...BDS ( Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movements are spreading in Japan, claiming, "Don't be part of Israel's genocide."

One of these is a petition against FANUC, one of the world's four largest manufacturers of industrial robots. The calling group, BDS Japan Bulletin, claims that FANUC's industrial robots are used in Israeli arms production and calls for the company to stop supplying products and services to Israeli, Western, and U.S. military companies...

Is there any evidence of sales of its products and services to Israeli weapons companies? FANUC gave the following responses to HuffPost Japan...

(Answer)

Our European subsidiaries sometimes sell robots and other products to trading companies and system integrators at a point in time when the end user has not yet been determined. When an Israeli customer is found based on information from the trading company or system integrator, the necessary transaction screening is conducted to confirm whether the product will be used for military purposes...

(Answer)

When a product is sold or serviced in FANUC Israel, the user and use of the product is verified as to whether it is for military use or not, and there was no record that the product was sold or serviced with confirmation at the time of sale or service that it was for manufacturing military goods and weapons...

(Response)

Not only in Israel, but also in other countries, it is necessary to verify the facts as to whether or not they are related to adverse impacts on human rights, and when this is confirmed, we will work to ensure that human rights are not violated, as stated in our human rights policy...

In response to FANUC's response, Shir Hever [a BDS activist]... pointed out that there are cases where products are used for both military and civilian purposes (dual use) even when companies explain that they are not used for military purposes, and questioned, "Does FANUC even have a proper grasp of the possibility of dual use?"

Yoshihiro Yakushige, a commissioned researcher at Doshisha University's Institute for the Study of Humanities and Social Sciences, who has been involved in the BDS movement in Japan for many years, claimed "it is a big problem if the end user information cannot be grasped when robots and other products are sold to trading companies and system integrators through European corporations"...