Rough cut diamonds, covered by Kimberley Process. Photo, Wikipedia
Switzerland told to take lead in toughening Kimberly Process rules
Update 22:45 Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Switzerland to take the lead in tightening diamond trade rules designed to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, often called blood diamonds. HRW has timed its appeal to coincide with the opening of Basel World, Switzerland’s premier watch and jewelry show in Basel. More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the show, which opened 18 March and runs to 25 March.
HRW in June 2009 published a report on the Marange district in Zimbabwe, where diamonds were discovered in 2006. Members of the Zimbabwe government are involved in exploiting local people to work the mines, according to the report. HRW documents a massacre of 200 people in the area in 2008.
Fair trade groups are also focusing on the Zimbabwe situation at BaselWorld: the annual Rapaport Fair Trade Conference has as its topic this year the issue of human rights and the jewelry industry, with a special focus on the situation in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe was reported by Rapoport 5 March to be ready to sell diamonds now that the Kimberly Process has a monitor: the Kimberley Process, currently chaired by Israel, announced 1 March that a monitor for Zimbabwe would visit the area and report on the situation, according to a work plan submitted by the Zimbabwe government. Abbey Chikane, the monitor, was formerly the chief executive officer of South Africa’s State Diamond Trader.
The HRW report exposes weaknesses in the Kimberley Process, which is a joint initiative by governments, industry and civil society designed to halt the trade in rough diamonds by rebel groups which use the money to fund conflicts. Its charter refers only to diamonds from conflict areas under rebel control, ignoring human rights abuses in diamond mines under state control.
Decisions by the group are taken by consensus, which makes it difficult to pursue individual members accused of human rights abuses, and HRW points out that the Kimberley monitoring regime is weak.
Switzerland is a founding member of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, whose members certify that diamonds they ship do not come from areas under the control of rebel groups. The problem was highlighted in the 2006 film Blood Diamond.
Links to other sites: Basel World, Human Rights Watch and commentary by HRW committee members published in Le Temps, Kimberley Process
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 21 March 2010.
Filed under: Society
Tags: Human Rights Watch, International organizations, Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, Marange District, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:22 am
I am totally disillusioned about the entire KP process – it is utterly meaningless. It has no political will, has been manipulated, and will now probably be manipulated by Chikane, the KP monitor. SADC and SA in particular has had no other agenda than propping up, and entrenching the continuing Mugabe dictatorship. I therefore have no faith in their involvement – and is extremely worried they will now again manipulate the process for Mugabe’s survival. Atrocities will most likely continue under their stewadship. The diamond field ownership issue has not even been resolved legally – and KP will probably very happily give the apparent thieves (Mugabe cronies) the go ahead to sell diamonds under the KP scheme “approval”. Big companies, such as Old Mutual, despite their lofty vision and mission statements, seem very suspect in being involved in the selling of illgeal blood diamaonds, through their involvement with SA based Muagbe front companies.
The entire situation still seems rotten to the core, and until there is real commitment by KP, all diamonds becomes tainted by these blood diamonds – to me there is no moral justification to buy any diamonds – regardless of where they are being produced in the world.