NGOs, Simmons: Diamonds important for African development

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NGOs, Simmons: Diamonds important for African development

By Susan Thea Posnock

December 06, 2006

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New York—It seems that just about anybody with a stake in the diamond business and Africa is speaking out this week, eager to have his or her voice heard as Hollywood shines its spotlight on the industry and the continent with the release of Blood Diamond this Friday.

Two notable examples held press conferences yesterday. At noon, representatives from non-governmental organizations Global Witness and Amnesty International USA spoke at the Open Society Institute, charging that the diamond industry still isn't doing enough on the issue of conflict diamonds, and that its public relations campaign misleads consumers.

Less than an hour after that event, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, back from a 9-day trip to Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique, unveiled a plan to use proceeds from his jewelry company to support Africa.

Simmons said the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF) will raise money for the development and empowerment of people and communities in Africa. Money will be raised for the fund through the Green Initiative, a specialized jewelry line from the Simmons Jewelry Co., which will contribute 25 percent of its net proceeds.

While the entrepreneur said he is focusing on the positive, others say his press conference was a publicity stunt.

"I think Russell Simmons unfortunately has been played by the industry," said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness, during the earlier media event.

Simmons said his purpose in developing the program is ultimately to help Africa.

"I'm in the jewelry business, and everybody around me has an agenda, but I've never had an agenda in any of my businesses bigger than lifting up my people," he said.

When asked about comments made at the earlier press conference, he said the idea is to make things like the Kimberley Process (KP) better and to focus on countries such as Botswana that are models of how diamonds can help Africans.

Despite seemingly opposing agendas, both sides do agree on the point that diamonds are important for development in Africa and that the ultimate goal—even if the path to get there is different—is a common one.

So even as the NGOs made it clear they would not stop pressuring the industry to improve the KP and its voluntary System of Warrantees, they said they wouldn't want consumers to boycott diamonds.

"We wouldn't recommend that people look elsewhere for alternatives to diamonds because that does have the potential to undermine the legitimate diamond trade in Africa, which does stand to have a lot of potential to improve the situation there," Amnesty International USA Amy O'Meara said. "The answer is not to stop buying diamonds, but to use our power as consumers, our power as citizens of the United States, to make sure that this system works."

Countries such as Botswana are clearly taking the conflict-diamond issue to heart, with President Festus Mogae in the United States this week and representatives from De Beers Botswana attending the Simmons event.

The U.S. State Department has also spoken out on the issue, saying that the trade in conflict diamonds has been cut sharply.

"We feel the [Blood Diamond] film provides a good historical snapshot of the diamond industry, particularly back in 1999, but we feel we have come a long way since the bloody atrocities depicted in that movie," Senior State Department Official Paul Simons told a press briefing, according to Reuters.

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Industry calling for swift action on Zimbabwe

Jewelers of America is calling on the Kimberley Process to fully and quickly implement a work plan to address the serious concerns surrounding Zimbabwe's non-compliance with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, the system designed to keep conflict diamonds out of the international trade, and the reported human rights abuses in the Marange diamond fields. Read More

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