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DR Congo workers 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 suffered becoming impotent, a rights group has actually stated.

Feronia, which controls DR Congo's palm-oil sector, had failed to provide employees sufficient protective equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The UK federal government's development bank, CDC, owns 38% of Feronia in DR Congo.

It said Feronia had actually invested heavily in protective devices and all employees were needed to use it.
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Feronia, a Canadian-based firm, said it was dedicated to operating to international standards.

The firm included that it had invested $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on personal protective devices in the last 3 years, which workers had actually been trained to use, and it had actually carried out a policy requiring the devices to be worn in the workplace.

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Feronia and its local subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), use thousands of employees at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.

PHC has received countless 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 ensure the company they fund appreciates the rights of its workers and communities on the plantations," HRW researcher Luciana Téllez-Chávez stated.

What is HRW's proof?

In a report entitled A Harmful Mix of Abuses on Congo's Oil Palm Plantations, external, HRW stated it had interviewed more than 40 workers and two-thirds of them "told us that they had actually become impotent since they began the job".

Impotence - together with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight loss that the workers complained about - were illness "constant with exposure to pesticides in basic, as explained in scientific literature", HRW stated.
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"Many [also] experienced skin irritation, irritation, blisters, eye problems, or blurred vision - all symptoms that are constant with what scientific texts and the products' labels describe as health repercussions of direct exposure to these pesticides," the rights group added.

Ms Téllez-Chávez said employees who had been talked to had permeable cotton overalls - not the water resistant overalls.
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"If pesticides mistakenly spilled, the hazardous liquid would likely touch their skin," she added.

What else does HRW say?

At the Yaligimba plantation, the business dumped the waste from its palm oil mill beside employees' homes.

The effluents formed a "foul-smelling stream", and ultimately flowed into a natural pond where women and children bathe and clean cooking utensils.

"Residents of a village of numerous hundred people downstream told us the river was their only source of drinking water," Ms Téllez-Chávez said.

If unattended and untreated, effluent-dumping might ultimately also trigger fish to suffocate and die, or trigger large of algae that could negatively impact the health of individuals who came into contact with contaminated water or taken in tainted fish, HRW included.

The rights group also implicated Feronia of paying "extreme poverty" earnings, saying ladies were the lowest-paid, with some earning as little as $7.30 a month event fruit.

HRW stated the development banks should ensure the organizations they purchase pay living wages to their workers.

What is the UK development bank's reaction?

In a statement, CDC said: "Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is an organic mix of natural waste oils and fats and has actually been released into rivers because the plantation entered remaining in 1911 and does not threaten human health.

"A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar financial investment - cash that the business has picked rather to invest on real estate, tidy water arrangement, healthcare and educational centers for employees, their households and other members of the regional communities.

"It is the objective of the company to build treatment plants for POME, however is regrettably not in a financial position to do so presently as it continues to make heavy losses.

"In addition, the company has actually refurbished or dug 72 brand-new boreholes for the arrangement of clean water in the last 6 years."
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What does Feronia say?
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The business said working conditions had enhanced significantly given that the participation of the European banks in 2013.
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Employees were now paid considerably more than the minimum wage for agriculture in DR Congo and the average employee earned $3.30 daily - greater than what a regional instructor would make, it stated.

It likewise confirmed that it had actually invested substantially in access to safe drinking water.

"Feronia operates on a social required with local neighborhoods. Without their support we would not be able to operate. We identify that there is still a good deal to be done and are dedicated to running to international requirements. We will continue to work relentlessly to achieve these goals," the company included a statement.
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