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 becoming impotent, a rights group has actually stated.

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

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

It said Feronia had invested greatly in protective equipment and all employees were required to use it.
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Feronia, a Canadian-based firm, stated it was dedicated to operating to worldwide standards.
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The firm added that it had spent $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on personal protective equipment in the last 3 years, which workers had actually been trained to use, and it had actually executed 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), use countless workers at palm oil plantations in DR Congo.

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

"These banks can play an important role promoting advancement, but they are undermining their objective by stopping working to ensure the company they fund appreciates the rights of its workers and communities on the plantations," HRW researcher Luciana Téllez-Chávez stated.
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What is HRW's proof?

In a report entitled A Hazardous 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 actually ended up being impotent since they began the job".
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Impotence - together with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight-loss that the workers grumbled about - were illness "consistent with exposure to pesticides in general, as described in scientific literature", HRW said.

"Many [likewise] suffered from skin irritation, irritation, blisters, eye issues, or blurred vision - all symptoms that are constant with what clinical texts and the products' labels refer to as health effects of exposure to these pesticides," the rights group added.

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

"If pesticides accidentally spilled, the harmful liquid would likely touch their skin," she added.

What else does HRW state?

At the Yaligimba plantation, the company disposed the waste from its palm oil mill next to employees' homes.

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

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

If unattended and without treatment, effluent-dumping could eventually likewise cause fish to suffocate and die, or trigger big growths of algae that might adversely affect the health of individuals who entered contact with contaminated water or consumed tainted fish, HRW included.

The rights group likewise implicated Feronia of paying "extreme hardship" incomes, saying women were the lowest-paid, with some earning as little as $7.30 a month event fruit.

HRW said the advancement banks must ensure the companies they invest in pay living wages to their employees.

What is the UK advancement bank's action?
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In a statement, CDC said: "Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is an organic mix of natural waste oils and fats and has been discharged into rivers since the plantation entered into remaining in 1911 and does not threaten human health.

"A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar financial investment - cash that the company has actually selected rather to spend on housing, tidy water provision, health care and instructional centers for employees, their households and other members of the regional communities.

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

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

What does Feronia say?
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The business said working conditions had enhanced considerably because the involvement of the European banks in 2013.

Employees were now paid substantially more than the base pay for agriculture in DR Congo and the typical worker made $3.30 each day - greater than what a local instructor would make, it stated.

It also verified that it had actually invested significantly 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 good deal to be done and are dedicated to operating to global requirements. We will continue to work tirelessly to accomplish these goals," the company included in a statement.

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