Protest outside Graff over proposed mine

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Protest outside Graff over proposed mine

By IDEX

February 09, 2009

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London--Survival International is calling for a protest outside of Graff Diamonds' flagship London store to demand that Gem Diamonds pulls out of a diamond mine planned on the land of the Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana.

Laurence Graff is a minority shareholder in Gem Diamonds.

The human rights group called for the Tuesday protest as well as wrote to celebrities who wear Graff diamonds--including Victoria Beckham, Naomi Campbell and Elizabeth Hurley--asking them to stop wearing the jewels.

Survival is also targeting the Oscars to prevent celebrities wearing Graff diamonds, the group said in a release.

According to Survival, Gem Diamonds plans to mine on the Bushmen's land.

"The Bushmen face severe water shortages, and one has died of thirst, since the government closed their borehole. Yet the Botswana government, which is in the process of approving Gem's mine, has said that the Bushmen will not be allowed to use any water boreholes drilled for the mine," the organization said.

Survival's director Stephen Corry said Monday, "Having watched the storm of negative publicity surrounding De Beers, Graff should have known better than to buy into this mine. Does it really want to be known as the company that mined its diamonds while the Bushmen died of thirst?"

Gem Diamonds bought the Gope in the project in the Kalahari from De Beers in January 2007. The project was heavily criticized by Survival.

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