AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi-File
DCL
A positive development in the conflict minerals trade from an unlikely source: an industry group.
First, some background: Concerns that diamonds mined in Zimbabwe under abusive conditions and military control would be accepted as conflict-free turned into reality last month. From there, it turned into immediate profit, with the country making $72 million in the first diamond auction after the announcement.
The Kimberley Process was created specifically to prevent human rights abuses in diamond production and it was clear the system had weaknesses already, but this was the most blatant violation of the principles it is supposed to stand upon.
No changes there, but news just came out that an industry trade group is taking a stance where the Kimberley Process won't: the Rapaport Diamond Trading Network plans to expel "any member who knowingly trades gems from two Zimbabwe mines where laborers have been killed and children enslaved," AP reports.
Rapaport is an industry diamond price and information provider and made the announcement after the above-mentioned auction allowed the sale of 900,000 carats of diamonds from the two most repressive mines.
The AP reports that despite the conclusion by Kimberley Process officials that the mines are operating at minimum international standards, the Rapaport group "said that does not guarantee the stones 'free of human rights violations' and vowed to publish the names of members knowingly trading in diamonds from the diamond fields near the eastern city of Mutare.
Stephane Chardon, chairman of Rapaport, pointed out that the certification applies only to blood diamonds mined or sold by rebel groups and that help to finance armed conflicts—and has no provision for punishing governments that neglect or actively suppress human rights. That's a rare admission even among human rights activists and supporters of the Kimberley Process.
