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Report: Human rights at stake in Zimbabwe's diamond fields

June 26, 2009

Johannesburg, South Africa--The armed forces of the African nation of Zimbabwe are forcing children and adults into labor and are torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of the country's Marange district, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 62-page report, titled "Diamonds in the Rough: Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe," documents how, following the discovery of diamonds in Zimbabwe in June 2006, the police and army have used brutal force to control access to the diamond fields.

Income from the fields, according to the report, has been funneled to high-level party members of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the party that used to rule the nation but is now part of the country's power-sharing government.

"The police and army have turned this peaceful area into a nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence," Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch, said in a news release. "Zimbabwe's new government should get the army out of the fields, put a stop to the abuse and prosecute those responsible."

Human Rights Watch compiled its report after conducting more than 100 one-on-one interviews with witnesses, local miners, police officers, soldiers, community leaders, victims and relatives, medial staff, human rights lawyers and activists.

The report also examines the October 2008 takeover of the diamond fields, called Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), which left more than 200 people dead.

These actions, according to Human Rights Watch, have resulted in a situation in which the country's diamond industry--which could be generating revenue for the struggling government--is in disarray, with millions in potential revenue being siphoned off through illegal mining and smuggling of diamonds, as well as corruption.

Human Rights Watch is calling upon Zimbabwe's new government, elected in February, to remove the military from Marange and restore power to the police, as well as investigate the allegations of human rights abuses and hold accountable all those found to be involved.

The organization also wants the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) to step in and press Zimbabwe to end the smuggling of diamonds and ensure that all diamonds are lawfully mined, documented and exported.

In addition, Human Rights Watch is urging South Africa, both as a member of the KPCS and as chair of the Southern African Development Community, to press for speedy reforms that will stop the smuggling of diamonds out of Zimbabwe into South Africa and other countries, given the serious human rights abuses involved, according to the release.

To read the Human Rights Watch report, visit HRW.org/node/83960.

For more on Zimbabwe, visit HRW.org/africa/zimbabwe.
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