India Dealers Openly Selling Conflict Diamonds Without Consequence
~ By Marc Choyt, Publisher
Sometimes reading all the criticism about Kimberley Certification Process (KPC) feels like flogging a dead horse.
KPC is the regulatory body that assures only “conflict free” diamonds enter the supply chain. Zimbabwe has been the hot topic for several months now and the critical debate recently has been whether or not to suspend that country.
Over the past year, there are reports that the Zimbabwe government has been involved in numerous atrocities at mining sites, including reports published in The Guardian of bodies piling up as Mugabe wages war on the local diamond miners.
Yet there has been widespread opposition within elements of the diamond sector and also among some governments in the possibility of suspending Zimbabwe.
Why would anyone want to purchase diamonds from Zimbabwe and what does this have to do with India?
According to an article in The Times of India, Zimbabwe has been selling diamonds at 25% less than diamonds from other parts of the world, which is obviously behind the trade support for keeping Zimbabwe in KPC. Thus, many diamond polishers, particularly those in India, were pleased when the decision was made not to cut Zimbabwe from KPC.
But, according to Robert Bates, JCK Diamond Editor, who has been following the issue in his “Cutting Remarks” on Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe has no official diamond export documents which are required by KPC to ship diamonds to India. Since these diamonds, mined in Zimbabwe and polished in India, are coming in un-officially, (on the black market) they would have to be considered “conflict diamonds.” Indeed, any diamond sold outside of the Kimberley Certification Process is officially considered a “conflict diamond.”
Hence, KPC allows Zimbabwe to continue to be part of its membership, even though they are not following KPC requirements. KPC has become so weak that even major polishing outfits feel free to publicly undermine its credibility in the Times of India. They know they will suffer no consequences.
No Kimberley debate, no conference, no change in policy is ever going to change fact that many countries are too corrupt for it to be effective. The world wide diamond business trade is, for all but a small percentage of people, only about money. The black market is never going to go away. Money rules.
I would not advocate the abandonment of the KPC, however. The horse is still alive. Though I believe The Deal Is Rotten, it still works well for those who need it the least (the large scale diamond mining outfits). We’re probably better off with it than without it. Yet the jewelry sector’s marketing of KPC diamonds as “conflict free” becomes more ridiculous by the mounting evidence to the contrary.
Any jewelry store that pushes KPC as their main safeguard obviously either does not care about ethical sourcing issues or has their head in the sand. The necessity of a mine to market custody for all diamonds is becoming more and more obvious.
If you are a consumer, demand mine to market custody of any diamond that you purchase. This supports the first tiny shoots of an emerging movement in the jewelry sector for ethical sourcing.
PS: You can be certain that by the time these diamonds from Zimbabwe hit the retail store near you, these conflict diamonds will be sold as “KPC certified” and “conflict free”.
