A Dirty Investment

Residents of Mindonga settlement on the banks of the stream of effluents released by the PHC palm oil mill. Their adobe houses can be seen in the background, within close proximity. February 2, 2019, Yaligimba. © 2019 Luciana Téllez/ Human Rights Watch

A leak in the Lokutu mill pipeline releases some of the mill’s effluents onto the riverbank. The pipeline deposits untreated effluents directly into the Congo River. Every ten days the mill releases approximately 40 tons of effluents into the environment, according to an estimate provided by the Lokutu PHC chief of technical service. February 5, 2019, Lokutu. © 2019 Luciana Téllez/Human Rights Watch

Women laborers gather the thorny oil palm fruits after they have been processed in the Boteka mill. They were the only ones working without protective equipment. Boteka, November 17, 2018. © 2018 Luciana Téllez/Human Rights Watch

PHC worker holds up the cotton uniform he said he uses to work with pesticides. PHC promised to give him and his team waterproof wear, but three years after joining the pesticide team he’s still waiting. Lokutu, January 27, 2019. © 2019 Luciana Téllez/Human Rights Watch

“I don’t have gloves; when we pick up the fruit bunches it hurts us,” said a palm fruit harvester that has worked for the Congolese palm oil company PHC for over a decade. “Sometimes the fruit bunches fall on people or animals’ excrement.” Boteka, Democratic Republic of Congo, November 17, 2018. © 2018 Luciana Téllez/Human Rights Watch. © 2018 Luciana Téllez/Human Rights Watch.

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