Global Witness rejects claim that Zimbabwe diamonds are clean
State-sponsored violence and human rights abuses are still taking place in the diamond fields of eastern Zimbabwe, in contrast to claims made in a leaked report from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme monitor, said Global Witness today.
Global Witness has serious concerns about the credibility of the report, which recommends that Zimbabwe be allowed to resume diamond exports from the controversial Marange area.
The Kimberley Process (KP) was set up in 2003 to eradicate the trade in blood diamonds. Last year, KP officials visited Zimbabwe and confirmed reports of killings carried out by state security agents as well as diamond smuggling rackets run by the military.
A supervised export mechanism for diamonds from Marange was put in place in November 2009, as part of a work plan agreed between KP and Zimbabwe to address the country's non-compliance with the scheme's standards. The report by the South African KP monitor, Abbey Chikane, says that Zimbabwe has now met the KP's minimum requirements.
"We are extremely concerned by the monitor's report, which directly contradicts information recently obtained by researchers and observers on the ground", said Elly Harrowell of Global Witness. "There is no sign that state-sponsored brutality in the diamond fields has stopped or that the widespread smuggling of diamonds from Marange into neighbouring countries has been curbed. Lifting the ban on Marange exports would mean letting blood diamonds onto international markets."