By Alex Bell
26 February 2010
Leaders in the global diamond industry have lashed out at the international trade watchdog, the Kimberley Process, for allowing Zimbabwe’s blood diamonds to reach the consumer market.
The diamond trade monitor is now being accused of misleading consumers in saying that the diamonds are conflict free, despite evidence proving that diamonds from Zimbabwe are mined under violent conditions. Beth Gerstein from the online American jeweller Brilliant Earth, told SW Radio Africa that “it’s not enough to accept a diamond’s Kimberley Process certification; you have to know the practices of the mine it came from.”
A fact sheet supplied by Brilliant Earth, details how the Kimberley Process has failed to concern itself with the violent conditions under which many of the world’s diamonds are produced. It shows how the Kimberley Process continues to certify diamonds from Zimbabwe, even though diamond mining there is still causing unspeakable human suffering documented by numerous human rights groups. Gerstein said it is unacceptable that “diamonds that have funded murders, forced labor, rape and political oppression are currently on the market with ‘conflict-free’ certification.”
Gerstein explained that “there is no way to guarantee that Chiadzwa stones are not being mixed with those produced at Zimbabwe’s other mines,” she said quoting a recent report by Human Rights Watch. She added that a temporary suspension of sales of Zimbabwe’s diamonds was a ‘feeble measure,’ as it does not affect diamonds that already have certification.
“Despite the temporary ban, gems from Chiadzwa are being smuggled out of Zimbabwe and sold on the global diamond market,” Gerstein said.
The Kimberley Process has previously faced criticism for its definition of a ‘blood’ diamond, a definition that the body hid behind when it decided not to ban Zimbabwe from international trade last year. A widely supported ban had been called for over abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, where the military’s control in the name of the state is still ongoing. But the Kimberley Process refused to ban the country, saying there is no conflict in Zimbabwe to justify classing the diamonds as ‘blood diamonds.’ Instead, Zimbabwe has been ordered to follow a set of guidelines approved by the Kimberley Process to attempt to bring the country back in line with international standards.
The guidelines include the demilitarisation of the diamond fields, which has not happened and rights groups are still reporting that there is strict military control of Chiadzwa and the villagers there. According to the guidelines there is also supposed to be an independent monitor in place to oversee the sale of all stones from Chiadzwa. A monitor has only just been agreed on after four months of stalling. Mines Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted in the state-run Herald newspaper as saying the government had accepted Abbey Chikane, the head of the South African Diamond Board and a former Chairman of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme as monitor for the diamond fields.
In the meantime there has been no way to control the illegal sale of the gems that are being airlifted out of Chiadzwa with no authorisation from the Kimberley Process. An official from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) made the shock admittance in Parliament earlier this month that diamonds were being airlifted from Chiadzwa to Harare without police or Kimberley Process supervision. Masimba Chandavengerwa, the MMCZ’s acting head of marketing, told a parliamentary committee on mines and energy: “At the moment, the airlifting is being done without our knowledge.”
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