DR Congo Workers for Feronia made Impotent By Pesticides – HRW

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 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 sufficient protective devices, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated.

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

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

Feronia, a Canadian-based firm, stated it was dedicated to running to global standards.

The company included that it had actually spent $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on personal protective equipment in the last three years, which employees had been trained to use, and it had executed a policy needing the devices to be worn in the work environment.

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

PHC has actually received millions of dollars from the development banks of Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

“These banks can play a crucial role promoting advancement, however they are undermining their mission by stopping working to ensure the business they fund appreciates the rights of its employees and communities on the plantations,” HRW researcher Luciana Téllez-Chávez stated.

What is HRW’s evidence?

In a report entitled A Hazardous 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 given that they began the task”.

Impotence – along with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight loss that the employees complained about – were health issue “consistent with direct exposure to pesticides in general, as described in clinical literature”, HRW stated.

“Many [also] experienced skin inflammation, itching, blisters, eye problems, or blurred vision – all symptoms that follow what scientific texts and the items’ labels refer to 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.

“If pesticides unintentionally spilled, the hazardous liquid would likely touch their skin,” she added.

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 flowed into a natural pond where women and kids shower and wash 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 uncontrolled and without treatment, effluent-dumping might ultimately also trigger fish to suffocate and die, or cause big growths of algae that could adversely impact the health of individuals who entered into contact with polluted water or taken in tainted fish, HRW included.

The rights group likewise accused Feronia of paying “extreme poverty” wages, saying females were the lowest-paid, with some earning just $7.30 a month event fruit.

HRW stated the development banks should make sure business they invest in pay living earnings to their workers.

What is the UK development bank’s action?

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

“A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar investment – money that the company has chosen instead to invest in real estate, clean water provision, health care and instructional centers for workers, their families and other members of the regional neighborhoods.

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

“In addition, the company has actually reconditioned or dug 72 new boreholes for the arrangement of tidy water in the last 6 years.”

What does Feronia say?

The company stated working conditions had actually improved substantially considering that the involvement of the European banks in 2013.

Employees were now paid substantially more than the minimum wage for agriculture in DR Congo and the typical employee made $3.30 per day – higher than what a regional instructor would make, it said.

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

“Feronia operates on a social mandate with local neighborhoods. Without their support we would not have the ability to operate. We that there is still a lot to be done and are dedicated to operating to international requirements. We will continue to work relentlessly to attain these objectives,” the business added in a statement.

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