Zimbabwe cleared to sell Marange diamonds

Enviromine

Publishing Date: 02 Nov 2011 5:35pm GMT
Author: Mining, People and the Environment

Legal and Legislation

The Kimberley Process Certification scheme has given permission for Zimbabwe to begin exports of diamonds from its controversial Marange diamond region.

Under the terms of the agreement, all diamonds will be subject to verification of compliance by monitoring teams including representatives of the World Diamond Council.

“This is a real milestone, and demonstrates categorically that the Kimberley Process provides the framework through which the integrity of the rough diamond chain of distribution can be protected, while at the same time enabling producing countries gain benefit from their natural resources,” World Diamond Council president Eli Izhakoff said.

The Marange diamond mines have been dogged by controversy over allegations of human rights abuses by the Zimbabwean army.

Certification of the Marange diamonds has drawn criticism from NGOs such as Partnership Africa Canada and international diamond trader the Rapaport Group.

Indeed, The Rapaport Group announced in August that it is planning its own ethical certification scheme for diamonds as part of a three-pronged initiative for the sector.

“By now it should be clear that a Kimberley Process certificate does not ensure a diamond is free of human rights violations or other serious ethical problems. In fact, a Kimberley Process certificate does not even ensure that a diamond is legal for trade in the US or European Union,” Martin Rapaport said.