Rapaport Issues Trade Alert On Marange Diamonds
Over the past few years, numerous human rights atrocities have been documented in the Marange diamond field in Zimbabwe. Yet these same Marange diamonds continue to find their way to the jewelry case, certified by the now highly politicized, morally bankrupt Kimberley Certification Process. Meanwhile, jewelers continue to rely upon Kimberley instead of a mine to market system of traceability and transparency.
In this press release below, the Rapaport Group alerts jewelers to this issue., emphasizing what many of us have been pointing out for years: Kimberley does not insure human rights. Martin Rapaport has been a major force in ethical and fair trade sourcing, particularly in the diamond sector.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher
Press Release, August 16, 2010, New York: The Rapaport Group has issued the following Trade Alert to the diamond industry:
“The Kimberley Process (KP) has just certified approximately 900,000 carats of rough diamonds from Marange, Zimbabwe. While the trading of Marange diamonds may be legal in certain jurisdictions, companies owning or selling the diamonds are sanctioned by the U.S., E.U., and U.K. governments and their trading may be illegal by citizens of these countries.
Furthermore, the KP does not have a mandate to deny its certification for diamonds involved in human rights violations and there is no guarantee that diamonds with KP certification are free of human rights violations.
Rapaport strongly advises all diamond buyers not to trade in KP certified Marange diamonds and to request written assurance from their suppliers that their diamonds have not been sourced from Marange.
RapNet, the Rapaport Diamond Trading Network, will not allow the trading of any diamonds sourced from Marange, Zimbabwe. Members found to have knowingly offered Marange diamonds for sale on RapNet will be expelled and their names will be publicly communicated.”
Martin Rapaport has also sent a personal communication to all RapNet members urging them to contact their suppliers and obtain written assurances that they are not being supplied with Marange diamonds. Rapaport noted that U.S., U.K. and E.U. citizens who are subject to sanctions regulations may have a legal obligation to verify their diamond sources. RapNet members with information regarding the distribution of diamonds involved in human rights violations were asked to contact RapNet legal counsel via email legal@diamonds.net.
