Global Witness Withdrawal May Be Good News For Diamond Industry Reform
By B. Earth | January 20, 2012
Looking back at 2011, we’d say that the biggest news story, at least insofar as efforts to reform the diamond industry, was the Kimberley Process’s wrongheaded decision on Zimbabwe. In November, the international diamond certification scheme decided to lift a ban on diamond exports from Zimbabwe’s blood-stained Marange diamond fields. But there is another news story worth highlighting, a story whose long-term impacts could be just as significant: last month’s decision by Global Witness to withdraw from the Kimberley Process, in protest.
Global Witness helped found the Kimberley Process back in 2003. The same year, the group was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its pioneering work on conflict diamonds. So a sad milestone was reached in December when Global Witness decided it had had enough. In the wake of the Kimberley Process decision on Zimbabwean diamonds, the group announced that it would no longer continue as a Kimberley Process participant and advisor. Global Witness did not mince words. In a press release, Global Witness founding director Charmian Gooch labeled the Kimberley Process “an accomplice to diamond laundering” and called the certification scheme’s approach to Zimbabwe an “outrage.” Read the rest of this entry »
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The One Percent Myth: The Diamond Industry Responds to Brilliant Earth
By B. Earth | December 7, 2011
Our last few blogs have discussed how the diamond industry relies on a deceptive statistic to convince consumers that diamond mining is now free from serious ethical abuses. We’ve called this statistic the one percent myth. The one percent myth is the misleading notion, heavily promoted by the diamond industry, that conflict diamonds make up “considerably less than one percent” of the diamond supply, or that more than 99% of diamonds are conflict free.
Last week, even before we’d gotten very far into our blog series, the diamond industry responded to us with a sharply worded message. The message is from the World Diamond Council (WDC), the organization representing most of the major corporations in the diamond industry. We’ve posted the WDC’s message below.
The diamond industry clearly isn’t happy with our blog series. But why is the diamond industry reacting so defensively? We believe it’s because our arguments ring true. We’ve been dismantling the one percent myth, point by point. And if consumers start to realize that they’ve been misled, a lot of them are going to react, with possibly disruptive consequences for the industry.
Before we get to the WDC’s response, let’s review what we’ve said in this blog series so far. We’ve shown how the only diamonds the diamond industry counts as conflict diamonds are the 0.2% of diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire. This statistic excludes diamonds tied to rape, torture, killings, and corruption in Angola and Zimbabwe – diamonds which could soon add up to 20% of the diamond supply, or more. The diamond industry’s statistic also fails to account for problems like child labor and the mass impoverishment of a million diamond diggers in Africa. In addition the one percent myth is an arbitrary statistic. A different statistic could easily be generated showing that almost all diamond jewelry is unethically sourced.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic, Part IV
By B. Earth | December 5, 2011
We’re back with our discussion of the one percent myth – the misleading notion, promoted by the diamond industry, that conflict diamonds make up considerably less than one percent of the diamond supply.
In prior blogs, we’ve shown how the only diamonds that the diamond industry counts as conflict diamonds are those from Cote d’Ivoire, a small country in West Africa that produces 0.2% of the world’s diamonds. Missing from this count are diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe – diamonds which are tainted by killings, torture, and rape. Together, these two countries could soon produce 20% of the diamond supply. We’ve also highlighted how the diamond industry doesn’t count diamonds tied to other serious human rights abuses – such as child labor and the mass impoverishment of a million diamond diggers.
Unfortunately, when jewelry consumers go shopping, they are frequently told that the diamond supply, thanks to the Kimberley Process, is now more than 99% conflict free. Little extra explanation is provided, leaving consumers to assume that serious human rights violations have been rooted out of the diamond supply. This practice can’t go on. We believe that if the diamond industry is going to use any statistic purporting to describe ethical conditions in diamond mining, it has a responsibility to include the concerns we’ve just highlighted.
How might it do this? One approach would be to raise the percentage of conflict diamonds it publicizes to a more realistic level – at minimum, including diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe. Or, it might be more helpful and accurate to try entirely different statistical approaches as a proxy for ethical conditions in diamond mining.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic, Part III
By B. Earth | December 2, 2011
This week, we’ve been discussing the notion that conflict diamonds make up “considerably less than 1%” of the global diamond supply. The World Diamond Council (WDC), the group representing the global diamond industry, prominently features this statistic on its web site, www.diamondfacts.org. Partly due to heavy promotion by the diamond industry, this statistic has gained widespread acceptance and legitimacy. Unfortunately, it’s misleading – misleading enough that we’ve dubbed it “the 1% myth.”
In our first blog in this series, we noted that the diamond industry defines “conflict diamond” in very narrow terms: as a diamond used by a rebel group to finance a civil war against a legitimate government. Using this definition, the diamond industry determines that the only diamonds that count as conflict diamonds are those from Côte d’Ivoire, and that conflict diamonds make up only 0.2% of the world’s diamond supply.
In our next blog, we discussed the diamonds the industry is failing to count – most notably, diamonds from Angola and Zimbabwe, which together could soon make up 20% of the diamond supply. These diamonds are tied to horrific killings, rape, and torture. However, the diamond industry does not count them because they are not associated with the right type of violence – that is, violence committed by rebel soldiers in a civil war context.
Should any other diamonds be counted as conflict diamonds? We believe so. But first, let’s talk a little more about how the 1% myth, in practice, misleads consumers.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic, Part II
By B. Earth | December 1, 2011
In our last blog, we discussed how the diamond industry is misleading consumers by suggesting that “considerably less than 1%” of diamonds are conflict diamonds. We explained how the only diamonds that the diamond industry counts as conflict diamonds are those from Côte d’Ivoire, where rebels are using diamonds to finance a lengthy civil conflict. Using only diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire in its calculations, the diamond industry suggests that conflict diamonds make up just 0.2% of the global diamond supply.
What is the diamond industry leaving out?
Let’s start with diamonds that the diamond industry has no basis for excluding – even on its own terms. The diamond industry relies on the definition of “conflict diamond” used by the Kimberley Process, the international diamond certification scheme it supports and helped to found. The Kimberley Process defines “conflict diamond” extremely narrowly: as a diamond used by a rebel group to finance a civil war against a legitimate government. But even under this narrow definition, the diamond industry is failing to count some diamonds.
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The One Percent Myth: Debunking a Diamond Industry Statistic
By B. Earth | November 28, 2011
With the holiday shopping season now underway, many jewelry consumers are learning about conflict diamonds for the first time. We encourage our customers to read the Conflict Diamond Issues section on our web site and to seek out information from other sources as well. But we offer a word of advice: not all the information that’s publicly available is reliable.
In particular, we’d like to call attention to one highly inaccurate statistic: a statistic that has long been promoted by the World Diamond Council (WDC), an organization representing the global diamond industry. According to www.diamondfacts.org, a site maintained by the group, the percentage of conflict diamonds in the world diamond supply is “considerably less than 1%.” The WDC attributes this low percentage to the success of the Kimberley Process, the international diamond certification scheme it helped to found. “Today 74 governments have enshrined into their national law the Kimberley Process Certification System, and now more than 99% of the world’s diamonds are from conflict free sources,” states the web site.
Based only on this statistic, it sounds as if conflict diamonds are a very small problem indeed – as if the flow of conflict diamonds has been reduced to a trickle. Is this true? Regrettably, it isn’t. The notion that conflict diamonds make up considerably less than 1% of the diamond supply is really quite misleading – so misleading, that we’ll call it the 1% myth.
To explain the 1% myth, we’ll need to address this issue in a series of blogs. Today, let’s first take a look at how the diamond industry arrives at its own statistic.
The diamond industry defines “conflict diamond” as the Kimberley Process does – in the narrowest of terms. Under the Kimberley Process, the only diamonds that count as conflict diamonds are those used by a rebel group to finance a civil war against a legitimate government. Based on this definition, the Kimberley Process has determined that just one country produces conflict diamonds: Côte d’Ivoire, a small country in West Africa with an ongoing civil conflict.
If you take at face value that the only conflict diamonds that exist are diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire, then the calculation would go something like this. Every year, rebels in Côte d’Ivoire smuggle about $20 million in diamonds into neighboring countries. In 2010, the global diamond industry produced about $11.4 billion in diamonds. Divide $20 million by $11.4 billion and you get a very small percentage – about 0.2%. This is what the diamond industry means when it states that “considerably less than 1%” of diamonds are conflict diamonds. (Indeed, the WDC cites a statistic finding that 99.8% of diamonds are conflict free.)
But is it truly the case that only 0.2% of diamonds are conflict diamonds? It can’t be. That’s because excluded from this calculation are billions of dollars worth of diamonds tied to extreme violence – including torture, rape, and killings. In our next blog, we’ll take a closer look at what the diamond industry leaves out, and how bad the problem of conflict diamonds really is.
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Negotiations on Zimbabwe End, But Not Controversy
By B. Earth | November 11, 2011
It’s now official. The Kimberley Process, the international diamond certification scheme, has decided to permit the export of diamonds from the controversial Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe. The decision brings an end to a long-running debate that, over the past two years, has nearly torn the Kimberley Process apart.
But is this controversy really over? We don’t think so. Not with human rights organizations threatening to leave the Kimberley Process, and not with billions of dollars in tainted diamonds about to be released into the international diamond supply.
As we’ve noted on this blog before, human rights violations in the Marange diamond fields are extremely serious. In 2008, the Zimbabwean army seized the Marange diamond fields, killing more than 200 people in three bloody weeks. The army then enslaved local adults and children, forcing them to mine for diamonds on the army’s behalf. Miners who disobey have suffered all kinds of brutalities, including torture, rape, and beatings.
The Kimberley Process placed a ban on the export of Marange diamonds in late 2009. At the time, it asked Zimbabwe to take a number of measures to comply with Kimberley Process standards. The Zimbabwean military was supposed to withdraw from the Marange diamond fields. Action was supposed to taken to curb smuggling. And human rights abuses—including killings, torture, and rape—were supposed to stop.
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In Burma, Hope for an End to Blood Rubies
By B. Earth | November 1, 2011
Promising democratic reforms are taking place in Burma, a small country in Southeast Asia long run by ruthless military generals. At Brilliant Earth, we’re following this news closely. Burma’s ruby trade, which supplies 90 percent of the world’s rubies, is one of the most shameful aspects of the entire global jewelry business. A democratic Burma could mean improved human rights conditions in Burma’s ruby mines, not to mention a better future for all of Burma’s people.
Famous for having a distinctive “pigeon blood” hue, Burmese rubies truly are coated in blood. Ruby mines in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, are nightmarish places where adults and children work in slave-like conditions. The Burmese military controls the mines and literally forces people to mine for rubies. Profits flow directly into the pockets of Burma’s generals and the country’s elite, helping to prop up one of the most oppressive regimes on earth. The Burmese military dictatorship is guilty of crimes including rape, torture, and even the ethnic cleansing of minorities. The video below provides a glimpse into ruby mining in Burma.
So what gives us reason for hope? Elections held last year have brought a new president, U Thein Sein, to power. Observers considered the elections fraudulent and widely assumed that Thein Sein would do the bidding of Burma’s generals. But he has instead made a series of stunning moves: freeing political prisoners, allowing more press freedoms, opening a dialogue with political dissidents, and taking measures to protect the environment and reduce poverty. About 90 percent of the Burmese people live at or below the poverty line.
It is too early to say whether Burma is on a path to democracy—or whether, as a result of democratic reforms, human rights conditions in Burma’s ruby industry will improve any time soon. Certainly, the Burmese military will not be eager to give up control of the ruby mines. Despite U.S. and European sanctions on Burma, the ruby trade remains lucrative for the military. In July, a ruby and jade auction held by the Burmese government netted $1.5 billion.
Still, we’re encouraged. It is now somewhat easier to imagine an end to slave labor in Burma’s ruby mines and an improvement in human rights conditions throughout the country. Someday, we hope, there will even be an ethical supply of Burmese rubies helping to build a prosperous, democratic Burma.
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Gold Rush Destroying Amazon Rainforest in Peru
By B. Earth | October 11, 2011
The state of Madre de Dios in southeastern Peru is spectacularly rich in biodiversity. Located almost entirely within the Amazon rainforest, this area is home to river otters, anteaters, colorful parrots, spider monkeys, anacondas, jaguars, and other exotic creatures. In Madre de Dios’s largest national park, more than 800 species of birds and 200 species of mammals can be found. In just one area of the park, more than 1,300 butterfly species have been counted.
For most of its history, Madre de Dios has been lucky to escape the development pressures destroying other areas of the Amazon. But suddenly, this relatively pristine rainforest faces a new threat: gold mining. As gold prices have soared in recent years, gold miners have been flocking to Madre de Dios in ever greater numbers. There are now at least 40,000 gold miners working in the Madre de Dios rainforest. Most of them mine informally, without legal permission and without following basic labor or environmental standards.
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Rebels Clash Over Diamonds in Central African Republic
By B. Earth | September 30, 2011
Violence over diamonds has erupted once again. This time, the location is the Central African Republic (CAR), a small impoverished country in the geographic heart of Africa. In the past month, fighting has flared up between two rebel militias. Both militias are seeking to control diamond-rich territory near the town of Bria, in the eastern part of the country. So far, the violence has left close to 50 people dead.
Why is this violence occurring? Some clues are available in a report issued in 2010 by the International Crisis Group, an organization dedicated to preventing deadly conflicts. The report, titled “Dangerous Little Stones,” now looks prescient; it calls attention to the rising risk of diamond-fueled violence in the CAR. Read in hindsight, the report suggests that the recent outbreak of fighting is a result of years of inhumane conditions in the CAR’s diamond mining industry. Diamonds are not the only cause of the rebel fighting, but they are a major contributing factor in a toxic brew of poverty, corruption, and ethnic tensions.
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