Source: Amnesty International –
The Guinean authorities must immediately guarantee the human rights of Soguipah workers and smallholder planters affiliated with the state-owned company, and investigate widespread abuses particularly regarding workers’ right to decent work, said Amnesty International in a new report.
‘Salaries that make you cry: abuses of workers’ rights linked to Soguipah’s activities in Guinea’ reveals how workers at the plantations and the factory of the Guinean Oil Palm and Rubber Tree Company (Société guinéenne de palmiers à huile et d’hévéas – Soguipah) in Diécké and its surroundings, in Nzérékoré region, were paid significantly below the national minimum wage and lacked adequate protective equipment. The report also documents how Soguipah bought rubber from smallholder planters affiliated with the company at below market prices.
“With the president promising since 2021 to make the exploitation of natural resources a lever for development and the improvement of living conditions, the authorities should act immediately to guarantee the human rights of these workers and planters, in conformity with the Guinean Labour Code, the new Constitution and their international human rights obligations,” said Marceau Sivieude, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.