Conflict Diamond Issues
« Previous EntriesCampbell Testimony Puts Blood Diamonds Back in News
Thursday, August 12th, 2010If former Liberian president Charles Taylor is jailed for crimes against humanity, he will not be able to pin it on British supermodel Naomi Campbell. Last week, Campbell testified at Taylor’s trial in The Hague, Netherlands. Prosecutors are trying to prove that Taylor used revenue from rough diamond sales to help finance a brutal, 11-year [...]
Kimberley Process Approves Marange Exports
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Countries belonging to the Kimberley Process, the international system designed to stop the trade in conflict diamonds, have been deliberating for more than a month over whether to allow Zimbabwe to export diamonds from valuable diamond fields in the Marange region of eastern Zimbabwe. The issue, in the broadest terms, was whether the international community [...]
Supermodel Resists Testifying at Blood Diamond Trial
Thursday, July 8th, 2010Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been subpoenaed to testify at the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is accused of using blood diamonds to help finance a brutal, decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone that ended in 2002. Campbell, who has said publicly that she “does not want to be involved in the case,” [...]
Farai Maguwu, Human Rights Advocate, Imprisoned by Zimbabwean Authorities
Monday, June 21st, 2010To advance Brilliant Earth’s social mission, we work closely with non-profit organizations in diamond-rich developing countries. Although we have always greatly admired the people who staff and lead these organizations, we recently were reminded that their work can be dangerous—and that at any time, they can be called upon to exhibit extraordinary courage.
Diamond Smuggling from Zimbabwe Forces Acknowledgment of KP Failures
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010So far, in dealing with Zimbabwe’s shocking human rights violations, the approach of the Kimberley Process (KP) has been threefold: minimize Zimbabwe’s actions, slap the Zimbabwean government ever so lightly on the wrists, and then hope for the best. Now it appears that this wishful approach has backfired—and that the jewelry industry, running for cover, [...]
Mugabe to Kimberley Process: Don’t Try to Stop Us
Thursday, March 25th, 2010As a South African monitor arrives in Zimbabwe to assess the human rights situation, a decisive moment looms for the Kimberley Process (KP), the international diamond certification scheme whose supposed purpose is to combat the problem of conflict diamonds. The options for the KP are becoming starker: either bow down to Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s corrupt [...]
In Wake of Kimberley Process Decision, Zimbabwe Military Leaders Poised to Reap Millions
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009When the Kimberley Process (KP) in early November chose not to suspend Zimbabwe for human rights abuses in the country’s diamond fields, the KP defended its decision on the grounds that the Zimbabwean government could be coaxed into cleaning up its act. Regrettably, the picture that is emerging is one of continued exploitation of the [...]
World Diamond Council Supports Kimberley Process in Controversial Decision
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009The Kimberley Process (KP) recently announced that, despite numerous reports of serious human rights violations by the Zimbabwean military in the country’s mining fields, Zimbabwe would not lose its KP membership. The KP’s alarming decision is now receiving support from the World Diamond Council (WDC), a global organization of diamond manufacturing and diamond trading companies [...]
UN Security Council Extends Ban on Diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Measures by the United Nations to prevent the export of diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire will continue into the foreseeable future. Last week the United Nations Security Council voted to extend sanctions on the West African nation for another year. Those sanctions ban other states from importing diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire while also imposing an arms [...]
Kimberly Process Chooses Not to Suspend Zimbabwe
Monday, November 9th, 2009Once again demonstrating its inadequacy at ensuring the ethical mining of diamonds, the Kimberley Process (KP) has opted to let Zimbabwe off the hook for grave human rights abuses taking place in the country’s mining fields. Those abuses are not the work of a private mining company but are being instigated by Zimbabwe’s own government. [...]
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