The Kimberley Process recently resolved at a meeting held in Namibia not to suspend Zimbabwe from participating in the global diamond trade despite heavy criticism from human rights activists.
Zimbabwe had been under heavy attack for “openly flouting” international diamond trade standards.
The Kimberley Process resolved to adopt a Joint Work Plan, proposed by the Zimbabwe government itself, which will give the country more time to meet basic trade standards.
The plan also calls for an independent monitor to be in place to inspect diamonds leaving the Chiadzwa fields, and will see the Kimberley Process provide “technical assistance”.
SW Radio Africa interviewed Ian Smillie, a leading expert on conflict diamonds, and he expressed his disappointment with decision taken by the Kimberley Process regarding Zimbabwe’s diamonds.
Rough & Polished’s Mathew Nyaungwa listened to the broadcast and below is an excerpt of the interview.
What is your reaction to the decision made by the diamond regulatory body on Zimbabwe and whether this has come as a surprise?
Well, I can’t really say am surprised, am very disappointed because I think by now the Kimberley Process should have realised that it’s all future and its credibility was at stake with this decision but when you have a voting system that gives a complete veto to any one government it does not take much to spoil a general consensus, so that is what happened, you had few governments that wanted to protect Zimbabwe at all costs and they refused to sanction the idea of suspension.
It puts into question the political machinations behind the Kimberley Process, what is driving this support of a country that has openly flouted international diamond trade standards?
I honestly don’t know, it is so discouraging, you know, South Africa has protected (President) Robert Mugabe for so long now that they have seem to have lost sight of the purpose of the Kimberley Process. The irony of it is that South Africa created the Kimberley Process.
It was on South Africa’s initiative, they chaired all the first meetings of the Kimberley Process, it never would have happened without South Africa, they were deeply concerned about conflict diamonds, and about the reputation of diamonds in the world and here, they, Namibia, DRC and Russia have supported Zimbabwe, despite of all the evidence that was put before them, evidence of non-compliance, and human rights abuse and all of the other problems.
You said that there should be an overhaul and reform of the way the Kimberley Process is run especially in situations like this, so does this highlight how drastic reforms are needed?
Absolutely and I think if it doesn’t happen very soon there is no point of having the Kimberley Process, what is the point in pretending that you are certifying diamonds as clean when you give a country like Zimbabwe under these conditions a complete free pass? They have done it before with Venezuela, they have ignored the fact that the DRC and Angola cannot say where half of their diamonds originate, I mean you have a paper tiger here, certifying diamonds that cannot actually be certified in any way, shape or form.
The big issue with Zimbabwe is that of the human rights abuse that KP made no mention of, do you think part of the reforms will have to make more allowance for human rights?
Yes, they have to do something about human rights and of course many governments do not want to discuss human rights issues in the diamond mining industry. Voting is another one, they have to have an arm’s length independent, credible review mechanism and they have to be willing to act when they find out that things are not working.
The problem is when they get faced with an issue they go into the most incredible machinations to try and avoid getting tough with the outliers and of course regulatory systems have to get tough with outliers otherwise they don’t work.
This decision on Zimbabwe is a very complicated list of how they are going to be assisting the country. What do you think it says about the Kimberley Process?
I think it shows that the Kimberley Process is completely irresponsible and they are living in dream land. They are going to provide technical assistance to Zimbabwe instead of suspending it, they are going to put a full time monitor into the country, as far as I can tell, to inspect all diamonds and shipments, visit the diamond mining areas at least once a month and they are going to send another team back. Zimbawe, has of course, promised to get a grip on internal controls, sort its legal problems and its going to educate miners, presumably it will start educating miners with guns .
Do you think reform of KP will happen with this evidence in Zimbabwe being completely ignored?
I would like to think that there are enough governments that (came out) of this meeting so angry with what happened and they will insist that they can be changed and be fixed but if they don’t then I will say Kimberley Process is a very short shelf life.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Rough&Polished from Namibia
