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

Feronia, which dominates DR Congo's palm-oil sector, had stopped working to provide employees sufficient 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 actually invested heavily in protective devices and all employees were needed to wear it.

Feronia, a Canadian-based company, said it was devoted to operating to worldwide requirements.

The firm added that it had actually invested $360,000 (₤ 280,000) on individual protective equipment in the last three years, which employees had actually been trained to utilize, and it had executed a policy requiring the equipment to be worn in the work environment.

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Feronia and its regional 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.
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"These banks can play an essential function promoting development, however they are sabotaging their mission by failing to guarantee the company they finance appreciates the rights of its workers and communities on the plantations," HRW scientist Luciana Téllez-Chávez said.

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 interviewed more than 40 employees and two-thirds of them "informed us that they had become impotent since they began the task".
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Impotence - together with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight loss that the employees complained about - were health issue "consistent with exposure to pesticides in basic, as explained in scientific literature", HRW stated.

"Many [likewise] struggled with skin inflammation, itching, blisters, eye issues, or blurred vision - all symptoms that follow what scientific texts and the items' labels explain as health repercussions of direct exposure to these pesticides," the rights group included.

Ms Téllez-Chávez said employees who had been spoken with had permeable cotton overalls - not the waterproof overalls.
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"If pesticides mistakenly spilled, the hazardous liquid would likely touch their skin," she included.
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What else does HRW say?

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

The effluents formed a "foul-smelling stream", and ultimately flowed into a natural pond where women and kids shower 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 said.

If uncontrolled and neglected, effluent-dumping might ultimately also cause fish to suffocate and die, or trigger big growths of algae that might the health of people who entered into contact with polluted water or taken in tainted fish, HRW added.

The rights group also implicated Feronia of paying "extreme poverty" wages, saying ladies were the lowest-paid, with some earning as low as $7.30 a month event fruit.

HRW said the development banks must guarantee the companies they buy pay living salaries to their employees.
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What is the UK advancement bank's response?

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

"A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar investment - cash that the business has actually selected rather to spend on real estate, clean water provision, healthcare and instructional facilities for workers, their households and other members of the regional communities.
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"It is the aim of the company to develop treatment plants for POME, however is regrettably not in a financial position to do so currently as it continues to make heavy losses.

"In addition, the company has refurbished or dug 72 new boreholes for the arrangement of clean water in the last 6 years."
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What does Feronia state?

The company said working conditions had enhanced considerably because the participation of the European banks in 2013.

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

It likewise verified that it had actually invested significantly in access to safe drinking water.

"Feronia operates on a social required with regional neighborhoods. Without their support we would not be able to work. We recognise that there is still a good deal to be done and are dedicated to running to international standards. We will continue to work relentlessly to achieve these objectives," the business included in a declaration.

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