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The Impact of Diamond Mining in DRC

the-impact-of-diamond-mining-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congoIn the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) many adults and children work in the diamond mines. Children as young as 6 are forced to give up their education and work for long hours in the mines. Diamond mining in the DRC has caused harsh living conditions and poverty for its citizens.

Process of Diamond Mining in the DRC

Miners work in artisanal mines and small-scale mines where the use of machinery is rare and in most cases nonexistent. Miners have to dig through layers of dirt, rock and gravel up to 50 feet deep to find the location of the diamonds. They then have to wash and sift through it to find any remnants of diamonds.

The miners’ bosses then take the diamonds and the Congolese people only receive a small portion back. In 2004, the DRC mined a total of $1 billion in worth, its treasury department only saw $40 million of it.

Impact on People

Because of the harsh conditions of diamond mining and the little pay it provides to the workers, much of the Democratic Republic of Congo is in poverty. According to UNICEF, the DRC contains over 50% of Africa’s water reserves, but 33 million people in rural areas do not have access to potable water.

In the village of Tshikapa, the cost of food is very high because people turn to diamond mining over agricultural farming, leaving the fields with no workers, according to the Time. The roads are unpaved and many can’t even visit a doctor because the price is too high. Hundreds of those miners each year die in drowning or tragic accidents because of the workplace environment that has no safety regulations.

On June 9, 2022, a collapse in one of the artisanal mining wells occurred killing six people in total. Because they often dig these wells by hand and have no safety precautions, people often die mining diamonds. Additionally, last year, a toxic spill from a diamond mine in Angola killed 12 people in the DRC, because of the pollution of the River Congo.

Environmental effects are very common as pollution of water sources and exploitation of water occur because of the mines’ locations and the materials needed to run the mines.

Helping the Miners

While diamond mining in the DRC negatively affects many Congolese people, there are organizations taking steps to stop these blood diamonds. In 2003, Global Witness, an NGO dedicated to ensuring the relationship between natural resources and the environment globally, launched the Kimberly Process, a government-pioneered safety certificate.

Since its launch 75 diamond-producing countries have taken part in this process and are required to establish safe and conflict-free export and import systems. This is one of the first actions taken to stop blood diamonds worldwide.

Diamond mining in the DRC has affected the Congolese people for many years. Many can’t access the resources they need to survive because the mines infect the water sources, environment, and infrastructure of cities in the DRC. Even though many of the miners are suffering in poverty, there are steps in place that are working toward a safer and more sustainable process of mining diamonds in the DRC.

– Janae O’Connell

Photo: Unsplash

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Human Rights Violations in Diamond Trading

Human Rights Violations in Diamond Trading
Globally, about 90 million carats of rough diamonds and 1,600 tons of gold are mined for jewelry every year, generating more than $300 billion. With billions of dollars being spent on jewelry every year, brands often still face problems of guaranteeing that their products are not tainted by human rights violations in diamond trading.

Efforts to combat these violations include the introduction of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), a system of export and import controls for rough diamonds. Almost two decades have passed since governments came together to end the trade in “blood diamonds” that fueled several brutal wars in Africa, yet injustices occur as mentioned in top10binary.com.

Certified Humane

The Kimberley Process unites administrations, civil societies and industry in reducing the flow of conflict diamonds — ‘rough diamonds used to finance wars against governments’ — around the world. It is a binding agreement that imposes extensive requirements on every participant. The visible evidence of this commitment is The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme which both safeguards the shipment of ‘rough diamonds’ and certifies them as conflict-free.

Under the terms of the KPCS participants must:

  • satisfy ‘minimum requirements’ and establish national legislation, institutions and import/export controls
  • commit to transparent practices and to the exchange of critical statistical data
  • trade only with fellow members who also satisfy the fundamentals of the agreement
  • certify shipments as conflict-free and provide the supporting certification.

The process unites 81 countries around the world which have their participants being responsible for stemming 99.8 percent of the global production of conflict diamonds. The Kimberly Process is underpinned by the United Nations mandate and is backed by leading civic organizations.

Diamond fields located in eastern Zimbabwe’s Marange, have shown that even with the Kimberley Process, the trade in diamonds still gives rise to abuses. Residents living near the diamond fields have suffered forced labor and torture, among other abuses.

Theft of Livelihoods in Marange

Thousands of villagers around the area took to the streets in late April to protest the alleged looting of diamond revenue by state-owned companies. These protests quickly turned violent with witness interviews by Human Rights Watch stating how armed soldiers and police firing tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators.

In March 2016, former president Robert Mugabe, with no evidence being provided, told the state broadcaster that diamonds worth more than $15 billion had been looted in Marange. No one was held to account for the alleged looting and years have continued to pass with alleged diamond revenue looting by state-owned companies, with no benefits to the local communities, adding to growing frustrations and protests of villagers.

Violence has been a reoccurring response by Zimbabwe’s armed forces with documentation from Human Rights Watch on these armed forces having coerced children and adults into carrying out forced labor, and tortured and harassed local villagers when they seized control of the diamond fields. More than 200 people were killed by armed forces personnel in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange, in late October 2008.

Human rights violations in diamond trading led Marange communities to petition the Parliament of Zimbabwe in March to “ensure diamond mining contributes to the development of the health, educational and road infrastructure of the Marange community, especially areas affected by diamond mining.”

Combatting Human Rights Violations in Diamond Trading

More work needs to be done to fight human rights violations in diamond trading. It is estimated that in order to produce one gold ring holding a diamond, 20 tons of mined waste is produced. The earth mined ore is mixed with cyanide, a known toxic poison, to dissolve the gold or silver from the ore, making the land and waterways around the mining area poisoned.

This contributes to communities facing ill health due to the mine’s pollution of waterways with toxic chemicals. Zimbabwe authorities have failed to ensure greater revenue transparency from diamond mining. Regulating mechanisms for diamond mining are needed to ensure the rights of local communities to information and to protect them from forced evictions and from negative health and environmental impacts of mining.

The European Union is a major centre for diamond trade and within the EU, Council Regulation 2368/2002 sets out the criteria for trade in rough diamonds in order to ensure adherence to the requirements of the Kimberley Process. This year, the EU will hold the Kimberley Process Chairmanship. In this capacity, the EU aims to make progress in supporting the honest diamond trade and meet the call of the international community to ensure that the Kimberley Process is equipped to continue playing its role in combatting human rights violations in diamond trading.

– Ashley Quigley

Photo: Flickr

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The Trouble With Conflict Diamonds

Rope isolated on white background
In recent years, the issue of conflict diamonds has become a major human rights issue. A conflict diamond is a diamond mined in the war zones throughout Africa to fund the recurring civil wars there. Despite the attention given by the media and the increase in the awareness of this issue, conflict diamonds are still being produced and distributed at an alarming rate.

Since the 1990s, conflict diamonds have funded wars in areas such as Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rebels in these areas typically gain control of necessary natural resources, such as oil, wood, diamonds and other minerals, to attain more weapons and influence over the surrounding communities. These military factions oppose the governments in place, and so they wage violence in their struggle for power. According to Amnesty International, wars in these areas have resulted in the loss of more than 3.7 million lives.

Along with unjust violence, poverty also plays a central role in this issue. According to Brilliant Earth, diamond mining communities are impoverished because the one million diamond miners in Africa earn less than a dollar a day — a wage that is below the extreme poverty level. Since much of this work is unregulated — no labor standards or minimum wage laws are ever enforced — it contributes to the dangerous and unjust nature of this work.

Not only do miners acquire unfair wages, but they also work in dangerous conditions, sometimes without training or the proper tools necessary, and face health problems, such as HIV and malaria. Entire communities are exploited through these mining practices, and as a result, many of these communities lack the ability to develop economically while workers lack fundamental provisions, such as sanitary running water.

Despite the decrease in violence and the recent attention brought to this issue through media coverage and the 2006 film “Blood Diamond,” conflict diamonds are still in existence. These diamonds are sold in the diamond trade to fund rebel militia, and as a result, millions are suffering from both violence and poverty. To help combat this issue, the Kimberly Process was founded in December 2000 by the United Nations General Assembly.

Through the establishment of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), participating countries now have the opportunity to ensure that all imported diamonds are ‘conflict-free’ and do not support the rebels in those parts of Africa. With 54 participants representing 80 countries, the Kimberly Process has been an important element in the struggle to address this human rights issue.

Even though the Kimberly Process works to halt the trade of conflict diamonds, it cannot stop the violence and poverty that result from these unethical mining practices. Those are two issues that can be addressed separately and efficiently. Unfortunately, poverty is such a huge and central element in many of the human rights issues we face today.

– Meghan Orner

Sources: Amnesty international, Brilliant Earth, Kimberly Process
Photo: Al Jazeera