The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme should not allow further exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe until the government makes clear progress in ending abuses and smuggling,

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week, as KP members gathered in Jerusalem for the biannual KP plenary meeting.



HRW reports that its research from July through September determined that large parts of the Marange fields remain controlled by Zimbabwe Defence Forces soldiers, who reportedly harass and intimidate the local community and engage in widespread diamond smuggling.



In November 2009, the government of Zimbabwe and the KPSC agreed to a joint work plan, in which Zimbabwe committed to a gradual of its armed forces from the diamond fields, and that a monitor would be appointed to examine and certify that all shipments of diamonds from Marange met KP standards.



"The government made a lot of promises, but soldiers still control most diamond fields and are involved in illicit mining and smuggling," said Rona Peligal, HRW's Africa director. "Zimbabwe should mine its diamonds without relying on an abusive military that preys on the local population."



HRW said it has repeatedly called on KP members to address human rights abuses in Marange and make human rights issues a fundamental element of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme mandate.



At a July's special meeting in St Petersburg, KP members agreed to allow two supervised exports of Zimbabwe diamonds, with the provision that the KP would be allowed to inspect conditions in the Marange diamond fields. The agreement also set the condition that all future diamond exports from Zimbabwe would depend on the country ending human rights abuses and smuggling and allow local civil groups to participate in monitoring.



HRW said it learned that the work of the KP team sent in to review conditions in the fields in August was routinely obstructed by government officials, leaving the team members unable to gather crucial information about conditions in the majority of diamond fields.



In recent investigations in Zimbabwe, HRW researchers found that while violence had decreased in the fields, the country's army and police forces continued to commit abuses, which put Zimbabwe in violation of the minimum standards required for membership in the Kimberley Process.

HRW reports that:

•The Zimbabwean army uses syndicates of local miners to extract diamonds. Local miners told HRW that the army coerces locals to help dig for diamonds. Many people are afraid to refuse, fearing that the soldiers will beat and harass them.

•In July, a scuffle between police, soldiers, and local miners ended in the death of a miner, who was hit over the head with an iron bar by a policeman. There has been no investigation into the miner's death.

•Widespread smuggling of Marange diamonds has not ended. Dozens of buyers and middlemen openly trade in Marange diamonds in the small Mozambican town of Vila de Manica, 20 miles from Mutare.

"The Kimberley Process should not allow the export of further shipments of diamonds from Marange until there is meaningful progress to end smuggling and abuses by the army," Peligal said. "Without these kinds of reforms, international consumers risk purchasing 'blood diamonds.'"



Certain portions of the fields are being mined by private firms with clear connections to members of the former ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Zimbabwe's military, which reportedly continues to engage in diamond smuggling there.



With elections proposed for 2011, reports of ZANU-PF and military involvement in diamond mining raise serious concerns that revenue from the diamonds will be used to fund political violence ahead of the elections, HRW said.