A preliminary report from a review team for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) has found “horrific violence” on the part of the military against civilians in the diamond-rich Marange District in eastern Zimbabwe. The Kimberley Process was established in 2003 to thwart the trade of so-called conflict diamonds which funded numerous rebel movements in West Africa during the 1990s. However, several human rights groups have objected to reports of abuses by the Zimbabwe government in forcibly taking over the Marange diamond fields. In June, Human Rights Watch released a report on the situation detailing systematic harassment, beatings, torture, and killings of local illegal miners by government forces.
This report led to the visit this past week by the review team to the Marange fields. In their report, the review team confirmed that the military is violently conscripting villagers to work the diamond fields while also illegally mining and exporting diamonds. In addition to military officers, it is believed that some of the diamond revenue is going to high ranking ZANU-PF officials inside the national unity government, further undermining the political deal that was reached between ZANU-PF and the oppositional Movement for Democratic Change following Zimbabwe’s marred elections last year.
As a KPCS participant, failure to meet the scheme’s basic requirements can result in Zimbabwe’s expulsion from the program, which would ban the import of all Zimbabwean diamonds to any other KPCS participant. Because the KPCS covers approximately 99.8% of the rough diamond market, expulsion essentially constitutes a global ban. However, while the KPCS has been heralded as a unique and effective way to curb an undesirable trade practice, it has also been criticized in the past for its less than robust monitoring practices and willingness to punish non-compliance. In the case of Zimbabwe, this is the third time major concerns have been raised about its compliance under the scheme. In 2007, concerns were raised about the country’s ability to meet their obligations and while improvements were supposedly put in place, concerns were again raised in late 2008. Yet this report marks a potential turning point for the KPCS and Zimbabwe as the review team is urging a temporary ban on all diamonds originating from Marange until Zimbabwe can become fully compliant.
It is unclear at this point what Zimbabwe will choose to do. Currently the government is denying that any human rights abuses are taking place in Marange, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Government officials have also said that calls for its expulsion are unfounded as the KPCS is supposed to only regulate the trade of conflict diamonds that fund rebel movements, and since Zimbabwe is not in conflict and the government is not a rebel group, it cannot be expelled from the scheme. However, expulsion would serve a devastating blow to Zimbabwe’s already crippled economy and may not be a risk that the government is willing to take. Yet, if nothing else, Zimbabwe is demonstrating that human rights abuses within the diamond industry are not limited only to war zones and that to be effective, the KPCS must think beyond the diamond wars of West Africa.