DR Congo employees 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 experienced becoming impotent, a rights group has actually said.
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Feronia, which controls DR Congo's palm-oil sector, had stopped working to give employees sufficient protective equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
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The UK federal government's development bank, CDC, owns 38% of Feronia in DR Congo.

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

Feronia, a Canadian-based company, said it was devoted to running to international 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 utilize, and it had carried out a policy needing the devices to be worn in the office.

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Feronia and its local subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), utilize countless workers at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.

PHC has gotten millions of dollars from the advancement banks of Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.
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"These banks can play an essential role promoting development, however they are sabotaging their objective by stopping working to make sure the business they fund 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 actually interviewed more than 40 employees and two-thirds of them "told us that they had become impotent given that they started the job".

Impotence - along with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight loss that the employees complained about - were illness "consistent with direct exposure to pesticides in general, as described in scientific literature", HRW stated.

"Many [also] suffered from skin irritation, irritation, blisters, eye issues, or blurred vision - all signs 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 stated employees who had been spoken with had permeable cotton overalls - not the waterproof overalls.

"If pesticides inadvertently spilled, the poisonous liquid would likely touch their skin," she added.

What else does HRW state?

At the Yaligimba plantation, the business dumped the waste from its palm oil mill next to employees' homes.
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The effluents formed a "foul-smelling stream", and eventually streamed into a pond where females and children shower and clean cooking utensils.
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"Residents of a village of several hundred individuals downstream informed us the river was their only source of drinking water," Ms Téllez-Chávez said.

If unchecked and without treatment, effluent-dumping might ultimately likewise cause fish to suffocate and die, or cause large developments of algae that might negatively impact the health of individuals who entered into contact with polluted water or taken in tainted fish, HRW added.

The rights group likewise implicated Feronia of paying "extreme hardship" wages, stating women were the lowest-paid, with some earning just $7.30 a month gathering fruit.

HRW said the advancement banks should make sure business they purchase pay living incomes to their employees.

What is the UK advancement bank's action?

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 considering that the plantation entered into remaining in 1911 and does not threaten human health.
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"A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar financial investment - cash that the business has picked instead to invest in housing, tidy water arrangement, health care and instructional facilities for employees, their families and other members of the local neighborhoods.

"It is the aim of the company to construct treatment plants for POME, however is unfortunately not in a financial position to do so currently as it continues to make heavy losses.

"In addition, the business has actually reconditioned or dug 72 new boreholes for the provision of tidy water in the last six years."

What does Feronia say?

The business said working conditions had improved substantially since the participation of the European banks in 2013.

Employees were now paid significantly more than the minimum wage for agriculture in DR Congo and the typical employee earned $3.30 each day - greater than what a local teacher would earn, it said.

It also validated that it had invested substantially in access to safe drinking water.
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"Feronia runs on a social mandate with regional neighborhoods. Without their support we would not have the ability to function. We identify that there is still a lot to be done and are devoted to running to worldwide standards. We will continue to work relentlessly to accomplish these objectives," the company included a declaration.

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