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DR Congo employees for Feronia made impotent by pesticides - HRW
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25 November 2019

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

Feronia, which dominates DR Congo’s palm-oil sector, had failed to offer employees adequate protective equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated.

The UK government’s development bank, CDC, owns 38% of Feronia in DR Congo.
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It stated Feronia had invested heavily in and all workers were required to wear it.
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Feronia, a Canadian-based firm, stated it was committed to operating to international standards.

The firm added that it had actually spent $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on personal protective devices in the last 3 years, which employees had actually been trained to use, and it had implemented a policy requiring the equipment to be worn in the work environment.
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Feronia and its local subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo (PHC), employ thousands of employees at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.

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

"These banks can play an important function promoting development, however they are sabotaging their mission by stopping working to make sure the company they fund appreciates the rights of its workers and communities on the plantations,” HRW scientist Luciana Téllez-Chávez said.

What is HRW’s evidence?
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In a report entitled A Poisonous Mix of Abuses on Congo’s Oil Palm Plantations, external, HRW said it had actually spoken with more than 40 employees and two-thirds of them “informed us that they had actually become impotent because they began the job”.

Impotence - together with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight reduction that the employees grumbled about - were illness “constant with exposure to pesticides in basic, as described in scientific literature”, HRW said.

"Many [also] suffered from skin irritation, irritation, blisters, eye problems, or blurred vision - all symptoms that follow what clinical texts and the products’ labels refer to as health repercussions of direct exposure to these pesticides,” the rights group included.

Ms Téllez-Chávez said workers who had actually been interviewed had permeable cotton overalls - not the water resistant overalls.

"If pesticides accidentally spilled, the poisonous liquid would likely touch their skin,” she included.

What else does HRW say?

At the Yaligimba plantation, the company disposed the waste from its palm oil mill beside workers’ homes.

The effluents formed a “foul-smelling stream”, and eventually streamed into a natural pond where ladies and kids shower and wash cooking utensils.
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"Residents of a village of a number of hundred individuals downstream told us the river was their only source of drinking water,” Ms Téllez-Chávez stated.

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

The rights group likewise implicated Feronia of paying “extreme poverty” salaries, stating women were the lowest-paid, with some earning as low as $7.30 a month gathering fruit.

HRW said the development banks ought to make sure business they purchase pay living wages to their employees.

What is the UK advancement bank’s reaction?

In a statement, CDC said: “Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is a natural mix of natural waste oils and fats and has been discharged into rivers since the plantation came into remaining in 1911 and does not threaten human health.

"A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar financial investment - money that the business has actually selected rather to invest in real estate, tidy water provision, healthcare and academic facilities for workers, their households and other members of the regional neighborhoods.

"It is the goal of the company to construct 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 business has refurbished or dug 72 new boreholes for the arrangement of clean water in the last six years.“

What does Feronia say?

The company said working conditions had actually enhanced substantially since the participation of the European banks in 2013.

Employees were now paid significantly more than the base pay for agriculture in DR Congo and the typical employee earned $3.30 each day - greater than what a local instructor would earn, it stated.
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It also validated that it had actually invested substantially in access to safe drinking water.

"Feronia operates on a social mandate with local communities. Without their support we would not be able to work. We identify that there is still a good deal to be done and are devoted to running to worldwide standards. We will continue to work relentlessly to attain these goals,” the business included a statement.

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