The Kimberley Process is a joint governmental, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, but the organisation has recently come under fire for being ineffective and too lenient when dealing with non-compliant countries. World Diamond Council chairman and chief executive Eli Izhakoff answers some questions on the Kimberley Process.
What changes do you think need to be made to the Kimberley Process?
EI: “In the Kimberley Process, every resolution must be reached by consensus. When you are dealing with more than 70 countries this is nearly impossible. When the consensus is finally reached, the result is often a watered down version of the original proposal attained only after many delays. I would suggest considering the possibility of shifting from a consensus to two-thirds majority of the membership.”
In recent months the Kimberley Process’s handling the problematic situation in Zimbabwe has been severely criticised and there have been calls to suspend Zimbabwe permanently from the Kimberley Process rather than for just six months. Where does the World Diamond Council stand on this?
EI: “The World Diamond Council is fully engaged in working to address Kimberlery Process compliance matters pertaining to Zimbabwe. The circumstances in Zimbabwe are unique and require special consideration by the Kimberley Process. For one thing, the compliance issues there pertain to diamonds that are being smuggled out from only one producing region, out of a total of three, by illicit traders. In addition, these diamonds do not strictly fit the definition of conflict diamonds.”
What is the World Diamond Council doing to combat the threat to the integrity of the Kimberley Process that has arisen as result of Zimbabwe?
EI: “The World Diamond Council has called upon participant governments to fully enforce laws already in place that ban smuggling. It has additionally called upon international institutions that engage in investigations of humanitarian rights violations to address allegations of violence by the government of Zimbabwe against persons operating in the one diamond producing area that is owned by the state. Furthermore, the World Diamond Council is participating in a Kimberley Process review of allegations of non-compliance with Kimberley Process minimum standards by Zimbabwe, and will join with the relevant bodies to recommend steps for Zimbabwe to come back into compliance.”
How is the Kimberley Process dealing with ongoing diamond smuggling in countries like Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Guinea?
EI: “The Kimberley Process’s capacity to address issues of smuggling is only a supplement to criminal laws already in place worldwide that forbid illicit trade. The World Diamond Council continues to call upon governments to enforce these laws that make these activities criminal. Enforcement has to be stepped up, made more robust and given a higher priority worldwide. The World Diamond Council continues to work with Kimberley Process bodies addressing non-compliance in countries such as Venezuela, Lebanon, Guinea and others and engaging with them to bring them back into full compliance.”
What about claims that the Kimberley Process is dragging its feet when dealing with certain violators?
EI: “While the World Diamond Council, along with the international community, hopes that deterrent actions can be swift, there are procedural requirements built in to the Kimberley Process system to ensure fairness and due process. These procedural steps should be followed, but the WDC is working to ensure that they are fulfilled in the shortest possible time frame.”
The Kimberley Process does not have a mandate to bar diamond exports due to human rights violations and child labour. Conflict diamonds are defined as the source of income used to fund terror activity and civil war. Do you think that the Kimberley Process should revise these criteria and include human rights infringements as grounds for suspension?
EI: “This issue is on the agenda for the plenary session to be held in November in Namibia. The Kimberley Process intends to seek to ensure that infringements of human rights violations in diamond producing areas do not occur. Of course, such activity is already addressed by a number of UN conventions and by criminal laws within the countries where such acts take place.”
Next year Israel is to chair the Kimberley Process - what are the most important issues that Israel should facilitate?
EI: “Increased government oversight for traders of rough diamonds to ensure that regulations already in place are enforced is a high priority. Continued technical assistance to countries struggling with compliance must also be addressed. This would include bringing into the Kimberley Process family certain countries that are well-known centres for illicit diamond trade in regions throughout the world.
Source: The Israeli Diamond Portal
It seems that jewelers could be missing a trick by just targeting humans. According to Petplan’s Pet Rich List 2009, there are some seriously loaded pets out there with independent spending power enough to make you wince.
In the top five are dog Gunther IV worth £224.6m, Kalu the chimpanzee worth £53m, Toby Rimes the dog (pictured here) worth £30m, Oprah Winfrey’s dogs who are set to inherit £30m and Orca whale Keiko, who racked up £22.6m for his staring role in the Free Willy trilogy.
Ever since Paris Hilton popped a sparkly tiara on pet pooch Tinkerbell, pet jewellery has been flying off the shelves of pet stores. So much so that garden and pet trade show Glee (which takes place at the Birmingham NEC from September 20 to 22) regularly dedicates a whole dog fashion show to it. I’ve attended one of these in my time, and the tension watching those dogs hover between wigging out and walking proud with their jewels makes it worth a look even if you’re not that interested in the jewellery (or the dogs).
The trend de jour, I’m told, in pet jewellery is matching sets for owners and pets. Louise Barnfather of Barnfather Designs (who will be exhibiting at IJL for the first time this year) designs precious collections of pet jewellery for brand Jari, including matching jewels for owners and pets.
The matching collections are made by hand to order and include gold and platinum collarettes, charms and cuffs featuring ethically sourced precious stones such as peridot, onyx, diamond and sapphire. Retail prices for the jewellery range from £350 for a charm to £15,000 for a collarrette.
Jari director Kim Bendzak told pet and garden news site GleeWire: "We were looking to create a premium jewellery range for pets as we recognised that there really is no service like this available in the UK at the moment. In the same way that people enjoy giving beautiful presents to their friends and family, so some pet owners want to treat their animals to a little indulgence."
Jewellery exhibitors weren’t shouting from the rooftops about business at fashion and accessories trade show Pure earlier this week, but there were no complaints to be heard either. Trading was steady, with exhibitors divided as to whether Sunday or Monday was the best day at the show. “Sunday was a stonker of a day for us,” said crystal jewellery designer Kleshna. This season’s Pure saw a return for some brands after a season or two’s absence from the show. Benor, which was one of the first jewellery wholesalers to exhibit at Pure, was back after missing the august show last year. Seems that brands forced out by the recession have no qualms about returning. As one exhibitor described its absence to me: “We didn’t do the show for a couple of seasons as it wasn’t the right time for us, but we’re back now and it’s always a good show for us.”
As the show is predominantly womenswear, buyers at Pure tend to be fashion shops as opposed to jewellers. However, on the stand at jewellery designer Benor they said that they had noticed quite a few IJL regulars at the show. Perhaps due to the expansion of the jewellery offer over the years, jewellery buyers are starting to take more of an interest in the show?
The biggest surprise at the show was Manchester fine diamond jewellery supplier Donns. The brand showed off its high-end pieces on the first floor, nestled among the fashion jewellery exhibitors. Truly bizarre. But buyers were surrounding the stand. Whether this was out of curiosity or genuine interest, I’m undecided.
Another stand of interest was the French Connection jewelley stand. The fashion retailer has always had a strong trend-led jewellery offer and has recently worked with jewellery wholesaler Icon Live to launch a wholesale website to sell to UK retailers online. Despite its FCUKing terrible brand issues in the past, French Connection has risen from the ashes to reclaim its position as a slick brand and could be a nice little branded jewellery seller.
Ethical jewellery was left, right and centre at Pure. Juan Munoz of ethical jewellery brand Leju talked to me about the difficulty the brand has faced as more and more fellow Pure exhibitors jumped on the vegetable ivory bandwagon, the sustainable material that the brand is famed for using. To avoid standing still, Juan and his partner have introduced silver beads and semi-precious stones to designs to ensure Leju doesn’t get lost in the melee of ethical jewellery brands.
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