1st October, 2015
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The Amnesty report |
Human rights group Amnesty International has raised concerns over the possibility of blood diamonds being exported from the Central African Republic if restrictions banning the export of diamonds are lifted.
The organisation, which on Wednesday released a report highlighting the issue, said that since the export ban was put in place in May, 2013, diamond companies within the African nation have been stockpiling diamonds.
Amnesty said that while two of the main diamond buying houses have denied buying blood or conflict diamonds – diamonds mined in a war zone and sold to finance armed conflict or civil war – the organisation believes the diamonds have been bought "without adequately investigating" whether the purchase has funded armed groups.
They have called for a process to be put in place to ensure that the people of CAR benefit from the sale of stockpiled diamonds while sanctioning companies where there is evidence that they "knowingly purchased diamonds that funded armed groups or failed to carry out reasonable checks to prevent their business operations supporting armed groups".
Lucy Graham, legal adviser in Amnesty’s international business and human rights team, said that companies must not be allowed to profit from blood diamonds.
"The government should confiscate any blood diamonds, sell them and use the money for the public benefit," she said. "The people of CAR have a right to profit from their own natural resources. As the country seeks to rebuild, it needs its diamonds to be a blessing, not a curse."
The report – Chains of Abuse: The global diamond supply chain and the case of the Central African Republic – said diamonds represented about half of the country’s total exports before conflict in the nation led to a ban being imposed in May, 2013, through the Kimberley Process – an international diamond supply chain initiative established in 2003 to stop the international trade in "conflict diamonds".
But the report found that the trade in diamonds continued inside the country throughout the ongoing conflict between the predominantly Muslim Séleka and the mainly Christian or animist anti-balaka militia groups. More than 5,000 people have died in the violence so far.
The report said both Séleka and anti-balaka groups "profit greatly" from the diamond trade. "In some cases they take over mine sites. More commonly, they demand ‘taxes’ or ‘protection’ money from miners and traders. They have perpetrated vicious attacks against artisanal miners and traders." But the report – which also documents other abuses within the country’s diamond trade including the use of child labour – added that the "exact extent" to which such groups finance their operations through diamonds is unclear.
Amnesty – which is also calling for stronger regulation of the diamond trade in relation to other supply chain issues in the country such as the use of child labour and tax avoidance – said the export ban established in 2013 will be partially lifted once the government meets conditions set under the Kimberley Process in July this year.
~ www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr19/2494/2015/en/
– DAVID ADAMS
