The rights group looked at oil spills and smoke emissions linked to the activities of TotalEnergies EP Congo, Wing Wah and Metssa Congo, and their impact in the Pointe-Noire and Kouilou departments that sit on the Atlantic coast.
"This report shows that in the shadow of industries in Congo that generate wealth for the country, villagers suffer environmental, economic and social rights violations," the report said.
"Amnesty International calls on the authorities to ensure that businesses act responsibly and comply with their environmental and human rights obligations," said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International's regional director for West and Central Africa.
After sharing the report with the companies, Amnesty noted TotalEnergies EP Congo and Metssa Congo had responded to its questions.
TotalEnergies EP Congo, a subsidiary of French company TotalEnergies, registered at least three oil spills from 1972 to 2011, which led crude oil to leak into a nearby lagoon, the report said.
The company took measures to clean the spill.
It said no anomaly had been revealed in water analyses carried out in 2021, the report said.
- No information -
But many residents complained about the lack of information, Amnesty said, adding that people have reported health problems, particularly diarrhoea, after eating fish from the lagoon.
Amnesty said the company never made public the 2021 water analyses and authorities have never investigated the possible harm that the oil spills may have caused.
Authorities and companies are "limiting the information they make public after environmental incidents", Amnesty said.
The state must make public the environmental analysis it carries out after incidents and all companies need to "fully repair environmental damage linked to their activities and compensate victims in line with the Congolese law", it said.
According to Amnesty, residents accused Chinese petrol and gas company Wing Wah of polluting the Loeme river, with little transparency around follow-up measures after oil spills.
In Vindoulou, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pointe-Noire, a group of residents has complained for years about the fumes from the Metssa Congo recycling plant just 50 metres (yards) from a school, the report said.
The subsidiary of the Indian group Metssa produces lead bars, and samples from people living near the factory taken in 2023 reveal lead concentrations significantly above levels considered safe by the World Health Organization.
According to Metssa Congo, it obtained a licence for the site in 2018 and a certificate of conformity last year, Amnesty said.
But Congolese authorities and Wing Wah did not respond to Amnesty's questions, the group said.
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