Switzerland, in fact, was a founding member of the Kimberley Process, which was formally established in 2003 by governments, industry, and civil society to provide both jewelers and consumers with guarantees that their diamond purchases were not underwriting grave abuses, particularly by violent rebel groups.
But those abuses continue. In Zimbabwe, for example, a June 2009 Human Rights Watch report exposed a massacre of 200 people, forced labor, beatings, and rape committed by the Zimbabwean military on diamond fields in Marange. Blood diamonds from Marange continue to be smuggled out of Zimbabwe, and, in part because the Kimberley Process has refrained from taking strong action, these stones are entering the showcases of the world's leading jewelers.Diamond necklaces are in demand in future
The diamond industry and those who buy fine jewelry need a Kimberley Process that works, and that requires stronger leadership by member countries like Switzerland to curtail the continuing abuses in Zimbabwe. The diamond jewelry industry is gaining good revenue.
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