Survey: Retailers Not Conflict Diamonds Savvy
October 18, 04A survey of diamond retailers by Amnesty International and Global Witness found that less then a fifth of the respondents provided a “meaningful account of their [Conflict Diamonds] policy” and less than half of visited diamond jewelry stores were able to give consumers “meaningful assurances that diamonds are conflict free”.
A survey out today reveals that almost two years after the diamond industry committed itself to the Kimberly Process retailers in the US and UK are not knowledgeable about it.
Amnesty International and Global Witness provided a harsh view to the results of their survey, saying the retailers are “failing to live up to their promises”.
The two went further to make and odd claim that the diamond industry has failed to adequately implement the system of self regulation, despite the fact that the Process was implemented to monitor rough diamonds only, and therefore requires no action on the part of retailers.
Amnesty International and Global Witness sent letters to 85 major diamond jewelry retailers and Amnesty International activists visited 579 stores in the US and UK. The main findings include the following:
Staff in only 42% of stores were aware of their company's policy.
32 out of the 37 companies that responded (out of 85 companies that were sent letters) are implementing the system of warranties and have a policy to prevent dealing in conflict diamonds.
However 30 of the companies responding (81%) did not provide adequate details on how the system of warranties is being implemented and audited.
The World Diamond Council is still falling far short on adequately monitoring self-regulation implementation on a global level.
"The continued lack of systematic monitoring throughout the diamond industry suggests that the industry is not taking the issue seriously enough," said Alessandra Masci of Amnesty International.
Today's results are part of a wider ongoing survey in which more than 800 retailers and suppliers have been contacted in
"As the public face of the industry, diamond jewelry retailers must do more to show their commitment to comply with the self-regulation and actively promote compliance by their suppliers," said Corinna Gilfillan of Global Witness.
“The World Diamond Council and other key industry bodies must develop a common standard for verifying compliance, and we hope that trade organizations will follow Jewelers of America's recent initiative to monitor its members.”