Conflict Diamond Issues
« Previous EntriesUN 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. [...]
Kimberley Process Reviews Angola
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Over the past four years, Angola has avoided being scrutinized in the conflict diamond trade, but recent allegations of human rights abuses have plunged this war-torn nation back into the international spotlight.
Last month, investigators for the Kimberley Process conducted a long overdue mission to Angola, the first since 2005. The team visited northern Angola, where [...]
Kimberley Process Team Investigates Zimbabwe
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009In response to ongoing reports of government corruption and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe’s diamond fields, a Kimberley Process review team has recently visited the country to assess its diamond industry first-hand. After a week-long investigation, the review team has confirmed beliefs that Zimbabwe’s military and police were complicit in widespread violence and human rights [...]
Angola Attempts to Halt Diamond Smugglers From DRC
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is engaged in an ethnically-charged tribal war that has seen nearly six million people killed in the past 10 years. Poverty and disease are rampant, with little money available for medicine, education or infrastructure. Child abuse, rape and sexual assault are common. Yet, the country is incongruously rich in [...]
Zimbabwe Smuggling Incidents Continue
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009As Zimbabwe’s ongoing legitimacy in the Kimberley Process is questioned, the country continues to demonstrate a lack of control over its rampant diamond smuggling. The government, the military and many civilians of Zimbabwe are all simultaneously in the business of smuggling conflict diamonds into world markets.
Conflict Diamond Expert, Ian Smillie, Walks Away from the Kimberley Process
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009In the midst of frustration, Ian Smillie, one of the leading conflict diamond experts and key architect of the Kimberley Process, declared his resignation to the Kimberley Process members this past month, declaring the process ineffective. In an eloquently written letter, Smillie states: “when regulators fail to regulate, the systems they were designed to protect [...]
Zimbabwe Minister Faces Questions on Mass Graves
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009In November, the Zimbabwe government massacred illegal diamond miners who had taken to the diamond fields to alleviate their desperate poverty. An estimated 140 miners were killed in the brutal raids. Zimbabwean parliamentarians will now interrogate Obert Mpofu, the minister of mines, regarding allegations that 83 of the illegal miners allegedly killed by the army [...]
Child Mining in Sierra Leone
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009The battle against brutality in Sierra Leone’s diamond fields continues. In theory, the Sierra Leone government now controls the diamond fields and oversees mining labor. In reality, however, there are more than 200,000 desperately impoverished people illegally working the fields every day for a pittance, and many of them are children. Despite the aims of [...]
PAC Wants Zimbabwe Expelled from Kimberley Process
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009International calls to expel Zimbabwe from the UN’s Kimberley Process have become increasingly urgent. The organization Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) has initiated a campaign to expel Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process as evidence mounts against the government’s ability to control diamond exports.
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