Africa: Valentines day, diamonds and death

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL-PRESS RELEASE
AI Index: POL 30/005/2005 (Public)
14 February 2005

This Valentine's Day (14 February) diamond retailers will be touting the
ultimate symbol of love and devotion, but according to Amnesty
International consumers can expect little reassurance that their diamonds
are not products of war and human rights violations.

A survey of diamond retailers and suppliers in Australia and six European
countries found that fewer than one in five companies surveyed could
provide a meaningful account of their policy to prevent the trade in
diamonds from regions of conflict.

The disappointing results come more than two years after the diamond
industry committed itself to a system of self regulation including the
issuing of written warranties and the implementation of a code of conduct
in support of the international Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.

"The trade in conflict diamonds in countries like Angola, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, has already led to the
destruction of nations and cost millions of lives. Yet for some companies
the response has been, 'we are not concerned, there are other things more
important in life,'" said Alessandra Masci of Amnesty International.

Between July and December 2004, Amnesty International sent letters and
questionnaires to diamond retailers in Australia, Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Out of 291 companies that were sent requests for written information about
their policies, 67% failed to respond. Of the 96 companies that did
respond:

63% (60 out of 96 ) admitted to having no policy on conflict diamonds;
Only 36% stated that they have a policy to prevent dealing in conflict
diamonds. However, 77% ( 27 out of 35 ) of those who stated they have a
policy do not provide adequate details on how the system of warranties is
being implemented and what polices, procedures and auditing measures
companies have in place to back them up.
56% said they never or rarely asked their suppliers to provide warranties
that their diamonds were conflict free;
Less than 20% provided their customers with a warranty as standard
practice.

This survey follows the one carried out last summer in the UK and USA* and
shows that the diamond industry in Europe and Australia is even further
behind the UK and the USA in terms of its overall response and
implementation of the self-regulation policy.The results show the urgent
need for greater government oversight of the diamond industry's self
regulation system. In particular governments should carry out rigorous
auditing and inspections of diamond companies to ensure that the diamond
industry is implementing its own self-regulation and, most importantly,
that this effectively halts the trade in conflict diamonds.

Consumers can also play an important role in pressuring diamond jewellery
retailers to follow through on commitments to combat conflict diamond
trading. Valentine's Day is an important time for consumers to raise this
issue. When they buy diamonds customers should demand written warranties
showing that the diamonds they are being sold are conflict free and
therefore not contributing to human rights abuses.

*: For a full report of the survey carried out in the UK and the USA ,
please see Dejavu - The diamond industry still failing to deliver on
promises, a report by Amnesty International and Global Witness (PDF
format)
http://web.amnesty.org/library/pdf/POL340082004ENGLISH/$File/POL3400804…