At the moment, Zimbabwe has come into the forefront of discussion for blood diamond dealing. A country formerly plagued by human rights abuse, has gone even more downhill because of a greedy and corrupt government.

About fifty percent of diamonds originate from the South American region; many rough, pre- polished diamonds from this area are subjected to controversy. There are concerns with the sale of conflict diamonds, many times referred to as blood diamonds. These are diamonds which are mined in war zones and sold to fund conflicts and profit the war lords. Diamond trading businesses purchase these diamonds which prolong the actions of revolutionary groups. These groups illegally take control of the diamond mines. Control of these diamond fields by rebel groups lead to major human rights abuse of millions of innocent people. At the moment, Zimbabwe has come into the forefront of discussion for blood diamond dealing. A country formerly plagued by human rights abuse, has gone even more downhill because of a greedy and corrupt government.

Civil wars in African countries such as Angola, Liberia, and Sierra Leone were fueled by the traffic of blood diamonds and over 3 million people lost their lives. All the wars have come to an end in these countries. The Democratic Republic of Cong and the Ivory Coast have also been the focus of blood diamond trade in the past. Most recently Zimbabwe has been the subject of human rights abuse as a result of their diamond trafficking.

In order to end financing of the wars and human rights abuse, The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was established in 2003 to confirm that diamonds are legitimate and conflict free. This is comparable to the Clean Diamond Trade Act enacted by the U.S. around the same time. The process entailed that shipments of rough diamonds over international borders should be in tamper resistant containers and accompanied by a certificate from the Kimberley Process (diamondfacts.org).

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The Marange diamond field in Chiadzwa, Zimbabwe, is regarded as the world’s biggest diamond find in more than a century. The diamond production is controversial due to legal problems and government crackdowns of illegal miners. In late 2008, in order to prevent diamond smugglers, the Air Force of Zimbabwe was sent to the fields and an estimated 30,000 illegal miners were shot at from helicopter guns, as a result almost 80 civilians were killed (ZWNEWS.com, Violet Gonda). The Air force was sent because the Zimbabwe police refused to shoot or attack the illegal miners at the government’s request. Also a military act known as, Operation No Return was put in place to search travelers in the area of the diamond fields for foreign currency and diamonds. Violators were tortured, arrested, and forced to fill holes in the mine fields. Human rights watch reported that the military killed more than 200 miners and used the operation to take hold of the mine fields (NYTIME.com, Celia Dugger).The government was cracking down on the Zimbabwean people by not allowing them to go anywhere near the mine fields because they want to collect the diamonds for themselves.

In February 2009, Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe forced 1,80 households out of Chiadzwa area and relocated them along the Odzi river (IPSNEWS.net, Stanley Kwenda). This took place in order to facilitate the start of full-scale mining in the area. A number of villagers protested the resettlement and won’t move unless compensated to their approval. The Zimbabwe government is taking advantage of the diamond wealth opportunity by using brutal force even after the founding of the Kimberley process. Ernest Blom, from the world federation of diamond bourses, says that the Kimberley Process succeeded in stopping wars funded by diamonds. He refers to the problem in Zimbabwe as, “human rights abuses which I think are out of the gambit of the diamond industry (bbc.co.uk, James Melik).

The Kimberley Process authorities believe that the problems in Zimbabwe don’t concern them because they are Human Rights issues which are not dealt with from a diamond industry standpoint. While, the Human Rights supporters believe that the diamond fields are the main source of the dilemma. As well as the government wouldn’t be taking advantage of its people if the diamond fields weren’t an aspect in the equation. The country of Zimbabwe was lucky to have mineral rich soil and the government is spoiling their opportunity.

According to the Human Rights Watch, Zimbabwe’s government is forcing women and children to work at the mines. A Human rights campaigner, Farai Maguwu, was arrested for giving apparent false information to the Kimberley Process authorities. He said that, “Soldiers have been accused of illegal panning activities and they are primarily responsible for mining the diamonds, which are being exported through undesignated points to neighbouring countries and the rest of the world” (bbc.co.uk, James Melik).

In more recent investigations, Human Rights Watch researchers found that army and police abuses of people decreased but still exists. The Zimbabwean army recruits local miners to collect miners involuntarily. The people are afraid to say no; because they fear that they will be harassed or beaten. Rona Peligal, the Africa director for Human Rights watch, says that, “The Kimberley Process should not allow the export of further shipments of diamonds from Marange until there is meaningful progress to end smuggling and abuses by the army. Without these kinds of reforms, international consumers risk purchasing blood diamonds” (hrw.org, “Kimberley Process”). Elections for Zimbabwe are in 2011, and the government and military connection with the diamond mining raise concerns that the revenue from mining will fund political violence ahead of the election.

The quantity of the blood diamonds in the Marange field and the amount of money that can be taken advantage of in this deceitful country will only lead to crisis. The value of the diamonds is over 1.5 billion for the next 10 years. Out of all the money that could be coming out of these diamonds to help a country in disarray; only about $900,000 has been deposited into government treasury (towardfreedom.com , Sam Gregory).The rest of the money is unaccounted for, the government and its agencies sell the diamonds illegally to support Mugabe’s government cabinet. “Revenue from the Marange should benefit the people of Zimbabawe, not finance political violence,” says Peligal (hrw.org, “Kimberley Process”). The corrupt government grows stronger and the people are left to suffer.

Currently Human Rights groups are demanding a ban on Zimbabwe’s controversial diamonds. A meeting with the Kimberley Process is scheduled to take place soon to discuss the diamond trade future of Zimbabwe and whether or not the diamonds are to be considered conflict-free (boell.org, Claude Kabemba). Human Rights advocates are calling on the Kimberley Process authorities to concentrate on the human rights abuse in Chiadzwa.

The Zimbabwean people are being stripped of their human rights. According to the Human Rights Watch, the government violates the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, and the protection of law (hrw.org). The suffering country needs help and the only way to financially restore the problems is through the mineral rich soil. If the fields were mined through an adequate system and the corruption in the process would come to a halt, the human rights abuse of its people and the economics problems could be improved.

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