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Rapaport bans Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds

November 25, 2009

New York--The Rapaport Group and the RapNet Diamond Trading Network have implemented an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabe's Marange diamond fields, due to what the company describes as "severe human rights violations."

The announcement comes less than a week after Jewelers of America issued a media release in which it stated its call for the Kimberley Process (KP) to swiftly implement a work plan to address the concerns surrounding Zimbabwe's non-compliance with the KP Certification Scheme, designed to stem the flow of conflict diamonds.

The Rapaport Group stated in a media release issued Nov. 24 that it believes "blood diamonds" from the Marange fields have been legally exported to the diamond cutting centers with KP certificates and may now be reaching retailers as polished diamonds.

"The Kimberley Process is being used as a fig leaf to cover up human rights abuses in the diamond sector," Rapaport Group Chairman Martin Rapaport said in the release. "Rapaport calls on the WDC to immediately make public all information it has relating to human rights abuses in the diamond sector, including but not limited to Marange. We call on the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association to educate its members about human rights abuses in the diamond sector and to immediately halt the trade in Marange diamonds by publicly naming and expelling members that continue to knowingly trade in Marange diamonds."

The Rapaport Group said that under its ban, all 4,100-plus RapNet members will be required over the next few days to remove all RapNet listings of Marange diamonds and to confirm upon logging onto the trading network that they will no longer knowingly trade in Marange diamonds or other diamonds involved in human rights abuses.

The group stressed that the ban does not apply to all diamonds from Zimbabwe, but specifically those from the Marange area. The Rapaport Group is also advising rough diamond dealers to review the unique characteristics of Marange rough diamonds published by the Kimberley Process and available online at Diamonds.net/Zimbabwe.

The group says that polished diamond buyers should inquire about the source when offered diamonds with a greenish hue in the G-Z color range, as well as faint green colors. While not all Marange polished diamonds feature greenish hues and not all green diamonds are from Marange, significant numbers of such Marange stones are appearing on the market, the company said.
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