DR Congo workers for Feronia made impotent by pesticides - HRW

25 November 2019

Workers exposed to pesticides at a UK-funded firm in the Democratic Republic of Congo have actually suffered becoming impotent, a rights group has said.

Feronia, which controls DR Congo’s palm-oil sector, had actually stopped working to offer employees appropriate protective devices, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated.

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

It stated Feronia had invested heavily in protective devices and all workers were needed to wear it.

Feronia, a Canadian-based company, stated it was devoted to running to global standards.

The company included that it had spent $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on personal protective equipment in the last three years, which employees had actually been trained to use, and it had carried out a policy requiring the devices to be worn in the work environment.
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Feronia and its local subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), use thousands of workers at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.

PHC has actually gotten countless dollars from the advancement banks of Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

“These banks can play an important role promoting advancement, however they are undermining their mission by stopping working to ensure the company they finance appreciates the rights of its workers and neighborhoods on the plantations,” HRW researcher Luciana Téllez-Chávez said.

What is HRW’s evidence?

In a report entitled A Harmful Mix of Abuses on Congo’s Oil Palm Plantations, external, HRW said it had interviewed more than 40 employees and two-thirds of them “informed us that they had ended up being impotent considering that they started the task”.

Impotence - along with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight-loss that the workers grumbled about - were health issue “constant with exposure to pesticides in basic, as described in clinical literature”, HRW stated.

“Many [also] suffered from skin inflammation, itchiness, blisters, eye issues, or blurred vision - all signs that follow what scientific texts and the items’ labels describe as health effects of direct exposure to these pesticides,” the rights group included.

Ms Téllez-Chávez said workers who had been talked to had permeable cotton overalls - not the water resistant overalls.
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“If pesticides inadvertently spilled, the toxic liquid would likely touch their skin,” she included.

What else does HRW state?

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

The effluents formed a “foul-smelling stream”, and eventually flowed into a natural pond where females and kids shower and wash cooking utensils.

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

If and without treatment, effluent-dumping could eventually likewise trigger fish to suffocate and pass away, or trigger big growths of algae that might negatively impact the health of people who came into contact with polluted water or consumed tainted fish, HRW included.
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The rights group also implicated Feronia of paying “severe hardship” incomes, stating women were the lowest-paid, with some earning just $7.30 a month gathering fruit.

HRW stated the advancement banks must make sure business they purchase pay living wages to their employees.

What is the UK development bank’s response?

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 considering that the plantation entered remaining in 1911 and does not threaten human health.

“A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar investment - cash that the company has actually picked instead to invest in real estate, tidy water arrangement, health care and academic centers for employees, their households and other members of the regional neighborhoods.

“It is the goal of the business to develop treatment plants for POME, but is sadly not in a monetary position to do so presently as it continues to make heavy losses.

“In addition, the business has refurbished or dug 72 new boreholes for the provision of clean water in the last six years.”
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What does Feronia say?

The company said working conditions had enhanced significantly considering that the involvement of the European banks in 2013.
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Employees were now paid substantially more than the minimum wage for farming in DR Congo and the average employee earned $3.30 per day - higher than what a regional instructor would earn, it stated.
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It also validated that it had invested considerably in access to safe drinking water.
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“Feronia operates on a social mandate with local neighborhoods. Without their assistance we would not be able to work. We identify that there is still a great deal to be done and are dedicated to running to international requirements. We will continue to work tirelessly to achieve these objectives,” the business included a declaration.

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