Action Item: Please email members of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition
The Kimberley Process (KP) Civil Society Coalition (CSC) members should be made aware that the public want an end to the trade in all blood diamonds – cut and polished diamonds as well as rough diamonds linked to human rights violations.
UPDATE: Also, see the end of this page for a similar letter you can send to jewellers to make them aware of public concerns about Israeli blood diamonds.
They should be informed that diamonds which fund war crimes and possible crimes against humanity are not conflict-free – they are blood diamonds.
A list of civil society organisations and their representatives with Observer status in the KP is given below.
Please take a minute to copy the message below (or one of your own) and email them. The block of email addresses for BCC is given below.
Please share this message on your websites and Facebook pages.
MESSAGE
As members of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition you have a particular responsibility to put the interests of civil society ahead of the interests of the diamond industry. By doing so, not only are you helping to end the scourge of diamond-funded human rights violations, you are helping the diamond industry, in the short term as well as the long term.
The Chair of the Kimberley Process (KP), Gilllian Milovanovic, in her address to the World Diamond Council in Mumbai had this to say: “Buying diamonds is an emotion-laden decision that is a choice, not a necessity. These kinds of purchases are particularly vulnerable to changes, sometimes rapid changes, in consumer sentiment.”
A diamond has to be conflict-free at every stage of the production process if it is to remain the emotional centrepiece which everyone in the industry ultimately depends on.
Human rights don’t end at the mine gate. If the KP limits its remit to rough diamonds only consumer confidence will be severely damaged.
The trade in cut and polished blood diamonds is funding war crimes in the Middle East but the KP Civil Society Coalition has so far remained silent about this issue.
In the KPCSC Brussells Communique issued almost a year ago you agreed that “The exclusion of the cutting and polishing industry from the KP system creates a vacuum between the production and trading system and retailers and consumers. Until the cutting and polishing industry is included in KPCS oversight, the Civil Society Coalition will work to inform retailers and consumers that there can be no confidence in the KP certification system.”
I urge you to impress upon members of the Kimberley Process the urgent need to eliminate the trade in all blood diamonds. The definition of a “conflict diamond” must encompass all diamonds that fund human rights violations and not just rough diamonds. That can not happen unless the cutting and polishing industry is included in the remit of the KP. If KP members fail to ban the trade in all blood diamonds the KP Civil Society Coalition should follow the example of Global Witness and withdraw from the Kimberley Process forthwith. Doing otherwise will allow the diamond industry to champion your participation and use your support as a fig leaf to contine the trade in diamonds that fund human rights violations.
Yours Sincerely
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BCC Email addresses
myoboue@gmail.com, cecideomc@yahoo.fr, alfredbrownell@gmail.com, aminatakelly64@yahoo.co.uk, alka_muyeba@yahoo.fr, felymbikayi@yahoo.fr, shamiso@zela.org, fmaguwu@gmail.com, mueller@bicc.de, amartin@pacweb.org, diamonds@ipsc.ie
KP CSC MEMBERS 2012
Groupe de Recherche et de Plaidoyer sur les Industries Extractives (GRPIE), CÔTE D’IVOIRE, Michel Yoboué, myoboue@gmail.com
Centre du Commerce International pour le Développement (CECIDE), GUINEA, Kabinet Cissé, cecideomc@yahoo.fr
Green Advocates, Liberia, Alfred Bromwell – alfredbrownell@gmail.com
Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) Sierra Leone, Aminata Kelly-Lamin aminatakelly64@yahoo.co.uk
Centre National d’Appui au Développement et à la Participation Populaire (CENADEP), DR CONGO, Albert Kabuya, alka_muyeba@yahoo.fr
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Groupe d’Appui aux Exploitants des Ressources Naturelles (GAERN), DR CONGO, Félicien Mbikayi, felymbikayi@yahoo.fr
Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), ZIMBABWE, Shamiso Mtisi, shamiso@zela.org
Center for Research and Development (CRD), ZIMBABWE, , Farai Maguwu, fmaguwu@gmail.com
Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Marie Müller, mueller@bicc.de
Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), CANADA, Alan Martin, amartin@pacweb.org, Bernard Taylor, btaylor@pacweb.org
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EMAIL JEWELLERS AND ASK THEM TO EMAIL THE KP CSC
Please email jewellers in your locality and ask them to email the KP CSC. Doing so increases their awareness of public concerns about Israeli blood diamonds and will give them cause to consider sourcing diamonds from alternative sources when they restock.
The Israeli diamond industry operates in a very competitive section of the diamond pipeline – any erosion of the confidence of jewellers in the saleability of Israeli diamonds would give a competitive advantage to suppliers for other countries.
A list of jewellers and their contact details can be found here: http://www.rji.ie/index.php/members/list-of-members
SAMPLE LETTER
The Kimberley Process (KP) will meet in plenary session in Washington Nov. 27-30 when a review of the definition of a “conflict diamond” will dominate proceedings. Vested interests in the diamond industry are trying to limit the scope to the KP to rough diamonds only – thus allowing the trade in cut and polished blood diamonds to continue unchecked.
It is critically important for everyone in the jewellery business that all diamonds funding human rights violations are classed as “conflict diamonds” and banned.
Please email the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC) and impress upon them the need to ban all blood diamonds and not just rough diamonds that fund human rights violations.
A list of KP CSC members, their contact details and a sample letter is available here – http://www.ipsc.ie/press-releases/action-item-please-email-members-of-the-kimberley-process-civil-society-coalition
Further information about the limitation of the Kimberley Process available here – https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8654956/Jeweller%20Awareness.jpg
Yours sincerely,