A new report by a prominent rights group has accused four European development banks of failing to protect workers on palm oil plantations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from being exposed to hazardous pesticides and being paid very low wages, driving the levels of "extreme poverty".

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said [...] that the investment banks - CDC Group from the United Kingdom; BIO from Belgium; DEG from Germany; and FMO from the Netherlands - had failed to meet their obligation to ensure that the companies they finance are not engaged in abusive practices.

HRW found that the lack of oversight by the banks enabled the palm oil-producing company Feronia and its subsidiary, Plantations et Huileries du Congo SA (PHC), to commit abuses and environmental harm...

"The banks should insist that Feronia remedies the abuses and commits to a concrete plan to end them." ...

According to HRW, the alleged practices of PHC contravene the DRC's labour law and international human rights standards...

[T]he four banks acknowledged that the issues raised in the report were "important", adding that "the company, owners and lenders are committed to tackling them"...

For its part, Feronia said in a statement in response to the report that it had done "a huge amount" since 2013 but recognised that "there is still a great deal to be done"...