Dewa Mavhinga, researcher with Human Rights Watch



The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) has severely damaged its credibility by failing to suspend Zimbabwe in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious human rights abuses and smuggling in Marange diamond fields. The group’s decision on Zimbabwe, taken at its November plenary meeting in Namibia, confirmed what many feared:  the Kimberley Process is no longer an effective mechanism for blocking the trade of blood diamonds.

As recently as late October, Human Rights Watch uncovered rampant abuses by the military in Marange including forced labour, child labour, killings, beatings, smuggling, and corruption. Human Rights Watch found that stones originating from these fields are mined under conditions in which serious human rights violations take place.



The Kimberley Process itself, in a review mission earlier this year, confirmed these findings and also noted that diamond mining in Marange violates the organization’s standards, which require members to ensure that diamonds are lawfully mined, documented, and exported. The review mission recommended Zimbabwe’s suspension and a ban on the sale of its diamonds, unless the country undertakes recommended reforms including removing the military from the diamonds fields.



Human Rights Watch’s latest information, however, suggests that the situation in Marange remains largely unchanged, and that Zimbabwe has not made any of the promised reforms. Despite claims that the army was withdrawing, diamond fields remain for the most part under firm military control, with smuggling, human rights abuses, and corruption unchecked.



The Kimberley Process thus failed to enforce its own norms. It works by consensus, and its members include Namibia, Russia, and South Africa; they are diamond exporters themselves and allies of Zimbabwe, and refused to agree to that country’s suspension. Instead, the Kimberley Process asked Zimbabwe to adhere to a work plan proposed by the country itself. It commits Zimbabwe to a phased withdrawal of the military without specific time lines, directs police to provide security for the area, and provides for a weakly supervised diamond export mechanism for all shipments from Marange.



Because of its weak response to clear evidence of abuses, the Kimberley Process has proven ineffective in stamping out the smuggling and sale of blood diamonds from Zimbabwe and some other countries. The stones from Marange continue to find their way onto the international market and into jewellery stores worldwide. In Zimbabwe’s case, blood diamonds often get smuggled onto world markets via unregistered traders in neighbouring countries such as Mozambique or South Africa. These countries either do not or cannot certify the origin and flow of the stones, which then become intermingled with legitimate gems. Consumers can no longer be sure that diamonds with a Kimberley Process certificate are clean.



With the Kimberley Process’s failure to champion clean diamonds, Human Rights Watch is appealing to consumers, retailers and the diamond industry to stop Zimbabwe’s blood diamonds. Consumers should ask their retailers about the source of the diamonds they want to buy and ask them to demonstrate the diamonds are not from Zimbabwe.  If the retailer cannot do so, consumers should consider not buying the diamonds.



For the Kimberley Process to restore its credibility and effectiveness, it needs to interpret more broadly the definition of blood diamonds, or “conflict diamonds,” to include explicitly diamonds mined in the context of serious human rights abuses. The Kimberley Process should also review its consensus-based decision-making mechanism and provide for a voting system that will enable the body to make difficult decisions without compromising the group’s core mandate. Without these fundamental reforms to adapt to a changing environment, the Kimberley Process will become ineffective and irrelevant.

The press release of Human Rights Watch "Kimberley Process: Zimbabwe Action Mars Credibility" is available at http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/06/kimberley-process-zimbabwe-action-mars-credibility



The Report "Diamonds in the Rough: Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe", published by Human Rights Watch is available at http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/06/26/diamonds-rough-0

For further information on the Kimberley Process, please see http://www.kimberleyprocess.com/ and the ECC Forum by Global Witness from December 2005 atat http://ecc-platform.org//news/why-kimberly-process-must-do-more-stop-conflict-diamonds

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, December 2009