DR Congo employees for Feronia made impotent by pesticides - HRW

25 November 2019

Workers exposed to pesticides at a UK-funded company in the Democratic Republic of Congo have actually complained of ending up being impotent, a rights group has said.

Feronia, which controls DR Congo’s palm-oil sector, had stopped working to provide workers adequate protective equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated.
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The UK government’s advancement bank, CDC, owns 38% of Feronia in DR Congo.

It said Feronia had actually invested heavily in protective equipment and all employees were needed to use it.

Feronia, a Canadian-based company, stated it was committed to running to global standards.
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The company included that it had spent $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on individual protective devices in the last 3 years, which employees had been trained to use, and it had implemented a policy requiring the equipment to be worn in the office.
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Feronia and its regional subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), utilize countless employees at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.
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PHC has actually gotten millions of dollars from the development banks of Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

“These banks can play an essential role promoting development, but they are undermining their mission by failing to guarantee the business they fund appreciates the rights of its workers and neighborhoods on the plantations,” HRW scientist Luciana Téllez-Chávez stated.

What is HRW’s evidence?

In a report entitled A Harmful Mix of Abuses on Congo’s Oil Palm Plantations, external, HRW stated it had talked to more than 40 employees and two-thirds of them “told us that they had actually become impotent because they began the job”.
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Impotence - along with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight reduction that the employees grumbled about - were health issues “constant with direct exposure to pesticides in basic, as described in clinical literature”, HRW said.
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“Many [also] experienced skin irritation, itching, blisters, eye issues, or blurred vision - all signs that are constant with what clinical texts and the items’ labels refer to as health repercussions of direct exposure to these pesticides,” the rights group included.
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Ms Téllez-Chávez said workers who had actually been talked to had permeable cotton overalls - not the waterproof overalls.
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“If pesticides mistakenly spilled, the poisonous liquid would likely touch their skin,” she included.

What else does HRW say?

At the Yaligimba plantation, the business discarded the waste from its palm oil mill next to employees’ homes.

The effluents formed a “foul-smelling stream”, and eventually flowed into a natural pond where women and and clean cooking utensils.

“Residents of a town of numerous hundred people downstream told us the river was their only source of drinking water,” Ms Téllez-Chávez stated.

If untreated and unattended, effluent-dumping could ultimately likewise cause fish to suffocate and die, or trigger big developments of algae that might negatively affect the health of individuals who came into contact with polluted water or consumed tainted fish, HRW included.

The rights group likewise accused Feronia of paying “severe poverty” wages, saying females were the lowest-paid, with some earning as little as $7.30 a month event fruit.
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HRW said the development banks must make sure the businesses they purchase pay living wages to their workers.
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What is the UK development bank’s response?
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In a declaration, CDC said: “Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is an organic mix of natural waste oils and fats and has actually been released into rivers given that the plantation came into being in 1911 and does not threaten human health.

“A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar financial investment - cash that the business has actually selected rather to invest on housing, clean water arrangement, healthcare and academic facilities for employees, their families and other members of the regional communities.

“It is the aim of the business to construct treatment plants for POME, however is unfortunately not in a monetary position to do so presently as it continues to make heavy losses.

“In addition, the company has refurbished or dug 72 brand-new boreholes for the arrangement of clean water in the last 6 years.”

What does Feronia state?

The company stated working conditions had actually enhanced considerably because the participation of the European banks in 2013.
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Employees were now paid substantially more than the minimum wage for agriculture in DR Congo and the average worker earned $3.30 each day - greater than what a local instructor would make, it said.

It also verified that it had actually invested significantly in access to safe drinking water.

“Feronia runs on a social required with regional neighborhoods. Without their support we would not have the ability to operate. We identify that there is still a good deal to be done and are devoted to operating to international standards. We will continue to work tirelessly to accomplish these goals,” the company added in a declaration.

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