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While a number of clear, fair or ethical diamond
initiatives have been created in the past few years, a white paper
commission by the Madison Dialogue initiative suggests the consumer is
confused as trying to determine which diamonds are truly ethically mined and traded.
SRK Consulting's Kirsten Hund wrote a paper which describes and
explains the various collaborative projects that have been created to
improve the lives of artisanal and small-scale diamond miners, as well as, in some cases, workers employed in diamond cutting, polishing and jewelry industries.
‘By providing an overview of the state of the art of existing theory
and practice, this document hopes to recognize lessons learned from
previous success and failures, and possible also inspire plans and
ideas for next steps to be taken in order to make diamonds work for development," Hund wrote.
In her study, Hund noted a "lack of clarity of the terminology.
Consumers interested in buying ‘clean', ‘ethical', ‘conflict free', or
‘fair trade' diamonds have no way of knowing what they'll get. It can mean certified Canadian diamonds from a De Beers mine, industrially produced Sierra Leonean diamonds from Target Resources, diamonds that are compliant with the World Diamond Council's System of Warranties that support the Kimberley Process, diamonds that have been mined, cut and polished in Namibia; diamonds coming from a co-operative in Sierra Leone or Tanzania, or "Fair Made' diamonds that have been set by previously disadvantaged youth in South Africa.
"All of these initiatives are obviously good, and contribute to the
improvement of lives of people," she said. "The variety is inspiring,
and create many more projects and initiatives. However, without clear
verification, the picture is unclear for the consumer."
Nevertheless, Hund found that none of these initiatives "has yet to
set up a proper, verifiable, third-party system. There is an urgent
need to develop thinking on this further."
Meanwhile, "for all the talking and all the activities, it is clear
that so far very little ‘ethical jewellery' is actually being
produced," she asserted. "We are still at the beginning of a long
process, and it does not seem likely that consumers will be able to buy
African ‘ethically sourced' diamonds on a large scale anytime soon."
She found that most jewelers who claim to sell ‘ethical diamonds' have chosen only to trade in Canadian diamonds, "or in some cases, even artificial diamonds."
"Everybody involved in any kind of initiative within Africa agrees
that organizing activities on the ground with local diggers is an
extremely long-term process," she added. "Despite the consumer
enthusiasm for the product, it seems a risky strategy for anyone to
start marketing ethical jewellery without a steady source of supply."
Hunt also determined that little exchange of information and lessons
learned is taking place among people and organizations involved in the
area of so-called clean diamonds.
‘The Madison Dialogue can play a central role here by inviting the
different actors mentioned in this paper that are not yet part of the
discussion, to join."
Surprisingly, Hund determined that many charity initiatives in diamond mining
communities are doing little to address the root of their problems.
"They all seem to have chosen the relatively safe option of working
with reputable national or international NGOs on existing poverty
programs in or close to cities." However, she urged that the Madison
Dialogue start a discussion with these programs to investigate whether
a portion of the money "could be going directly to the diamond mining communities for empowerment there."
She also questioned the mixing of the roles of responsibilities among the diamond mining
companies, development NGOs which start businesses, and "both try to
develop or implement legislation and work with local or national
government-without always fully understanding the underlying power
structures."
"In most cases, companies are not development specialists, NGOs do
not understand how to do business, and if government is not on board,
attempts to formalize an operation will fail. Shortcuts trying to do
things quickly are usually bound to fail."
Hund discovered that local organization often get sidelined or excluded from the very beginning when an ethical diamond
operation is started. "This is partly because of very weak, or
non-existent well-organized, civil society groups in most artisanal diamond mining
areas. ...However it will contribute a great deal to the sustainability
and local ownership of any project, and will do much for poverty
alleviation through the empowerment of these types of engagement."
Lastly, she noted, "we often fail to recognize what is already
happening within Africa itself, without outside interventions. In some
cases the structures are there, but are simply not recognized by
outsiders.'
For the full report, go to www.madisondialogue.org
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