Mining, People and the Environment > Enviromine > NGOs call for Zimbabwe suspension from Kimberley Process

Enviromine

Non-government organisation Human Rights Watch has called for Zimbabwe to be immediately suspended from the Kimberley Process, the diamond industry’s watchdog, following the revelation of horrific human  rights abuses on the country’s informal diamond mines.

Human Rights Watch said in a report released last week that control of the Marange diamond deposits in northeast Zimbabwe was handed to the military in 2007 by Robert Mugabe’s government.

The army remains in control of the deposits, which could potentially yield US$1.2 billion a year. It has so far reportedly killed more than 200 people and continues to commit abuses and to force children to work the diamond deposits.

Human Rights Watch, and a number of other NGOs, have called for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to suspend Zimbabwe from participation and immediately investigate the allegations of human rights abuses by the military and government.

Officials from the Kimberley Process visited the area in April to assess the situation in Marange, and said that this has paved the way to host a review mission to Zimbabwe. However, Kimberley’s unwillingness to address the problems was one of the reasons a senior founding member left last month, likening trying to get a Kimberley team to investigate Zimbabwe to “pulling teeth”.

Yet, there is one legitimate diamond mine in Zimbabwe, Rio Tinto’s 78%-owned Murowa mine, and industry insiders have warned that suspending the country from the KPCS would force the mine to close, to the detriment of the local economy.

“Some 1,500 people working at Murowa’s three kimberlite pipes and in the nearby community are dependant on the mine,” one source told Mining Journal. The source added that Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process “will lead to Rio Tinto’s withdrawal and the cessation of its participation in, and funding of, various community activities”.

“Suspending Zimbabwe doesn’t change anything in the chaos of the informal sector,” the source added. “The smuggling will simply continue.”