http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
05 June 2012

A South African Minister taking part in the meeting of the international 
diamond trade watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP), has reportedly called 
for caution in redefining the term ‘blood diamond’.

The redefinition of this core issue of the KP has taken centre stage in the 
first of the monitoring body’s meetings this year, which is currently 
underway in Washington. The group has faced increasing pressure to reform 
over accusations that it has allowed serious human rights abuses at Zimbabwe’s 
diamond fields to be brushed under the carpet.

The KP was formed in 2003 to curb the trade in ‘blood diamonds’, which it 
detailed as stones that funded civil war or the brutality of rebel groups, 
like was seen in Sierra Leone.

But civil society and human rights groups have since said that this 
definition is too ‘narrow’ and should be broadened to encompass any human 
rights abuses associated with diamond mining, as has been seen in Zimbabwe.

The calls for redefinition and a reform of the KP scheme are already 
reported to have caused friction among some of the group’s members. South 
Africa’s Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has been quoted as urging 
for ‘caution’ in the redefinition process. Shabangu said that if the matter 
was not handled carefully, the KP could face divisions and it could have 
dire implications for the “millions of people who rely on diamond revenue”.

Daniel Bekele, the Africa Director at Human Rights Watch, told SW Radio 
Africa on Tuesday that certain KP members have repeatedly been resistant to 
broadening the KP’s mandate to include human rights. He said this resistance 
is “not proper and not consistent with the KP and the reasons why it was 
started.”

“The purpose of the body is to ensure that conflict diamonds and other 
stones tainted by human rights abuses don’t reach consumers. Unfortunately 
what we have increasingly seen is exactly this,” Bekele said.

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell

04 June 2012

The international diamond trade watchdog, the Kimberley Process (KP) is this 
week being urged to put pressure on Zimbabwe to address ongoing human rights 
abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

The call from a leading human rights organisation comes as the KP’s annual 
meeting got underway in the US, which now holds the group’s rotating 
chairmanship position. That meeting is set to discuss mining and trading of 
conflict diamonds across the globe, and it is hoped KP members will push for 
critical reform of the monitoring body.

The KP has faced serious criticism in recent years for appearing to let 
Zimbabwe off the hook over human rights abuses at Chiadzwa, where forced 
labour, assaults, murder and smuggling led to the country being suspended 
from trade in 2009. The KP was, back then, urged to ban Zimbabwe completely 
over these concerns.

Zimbabwe was instead allowed time to try and fall in line with international 
trade standards, in what was slammed as too ‘lenient’ a move to force any 
real change at Chiadzwa. The KP then faced more condemnation after last year 
giving the ZANU PF run Mines Ministry the green light to resume diamond 
sales, with no sign of significant changes at the alluvial fields.

According to Human Rights Watch, which has conducted ongoing research into 
the situation there, abuses still persist, perpetrated mainly by the ZANU PF 
loyal security services. The group found evidence late last year of serious 
abuses by police and private security guards patrolling the area, including 
setting dogs on local miners and using excessive force to clear the diamond 
fields of ‘illegal’ miners. Human Rights Watch said that, to date, no steps 
have been taken to address these problems.

“Human Rights Watch also remains concerned by the continued presence of the 
Zimbabwean army, which was responsible for the killing of 200 local miners 
in 2008, in