We have all seen the images, whether as a Hollywood movie or as photographs in the trade press or as material on the NGO’s websites. We have all seen the hot and dusty conditions that artisanal workers toil in hour after hour, day after day in order to find a small, glimmering stone that may mark the end of their unending poverty.

We have all seen the images, whether as a Hollywood movie or as photographs in the trade press or as material on the NGO’s websites. We have all seen the hot and dusty conditions that artisanal workers toil in hour after hour, day after day in order to find a small, glimmering stone that may mark the end of their unending poverty. We all know that the price these workers receive for their toils is often no more than a cup of rice or a dollar a day, if they are lucky. Just think about that for a moment. For hours and hours bending over in unthinkable conditions for diamonds that end up in the best shops in London, New York and Moscow, workers receive little more than a subsistence wage.

While the Kimberley Process was set up to ensure that diamonds from conflict and war areas did not knowingly end up on the world’s market, all too often the people who actually did the living and the working and the dying in the diamond fields were pushed to the back of the mind. We all know that they are there and we all know that without them the industry would be the poorer but all too often they are not seen as a valuable and necessary part of the diamond pipeline.
According to 2005 estimates, the value of the diamonds generated by artisanal miners could be as high as a billion dollars annually, and at least 10 percent of the world’s gem quality diamonds.

It is in the industry’s interest to have workers laboring in safety with the full range of knowledge about what they are working so hard to unearth.

For this reason, the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI) was formerly launched at the Clinton Global Initiative, which took place in New York in September 2006.

While the DDI was officially launched in 2006, its establishment actually took place a year earlier at a meeting in Accra, Ghana in October 2005.

Although according to the organization itself, the DDI was created as a “unique effort to address the problems [of artisanal diamond diggers], bringing NGOs, governments and business together in a common effort that aims to convert diamonds from a fuel for war into an engine for development.

IDEX Magazine spoke to Ian Smillie, current chairperson of the DDI and of Partnership Africa Canada, about the origins, goals and future of the Initiative.

IDEX Magazine: Why was the Diamond Development Initiative established?

Ian Smillie: Basically, we realized that something was missing from the Kimberley Process. The Kimberley Process is about regulation. It is not about dealing with the fundamental issues of artisanal mining in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where mining has historically been almost completely unregulated.

These are countries where diamonds fueled serious conflict, and they haven’t really sorted out their problems yet. The artisanal diamond diggers are vulnerable to just about any type of predator. In the 1990s there was a military threat but now it is an economic threat. It is only a matter of time before problems start again unless we deal with some of the fundamental issues. The whole point of the Kimberley Process is to ensure that these countries do not go back to where they were before.

 

Development problems need development initiatives to help solve them. The DDI is not regulatory.

Instead, it complements and supplements the Kimberley Process. I think that’s why governments are supportive of it.

 

IDEX: What has the DDI done so far?

IS: The initiative has been slow in getting started, but that may be a good thing. We just appointed a new board of directors at the June meeting that was held in London. [At the meeting, Smillie was appointed chairman of the DDI.] A large advisory group has also been formed, which brings together people interested in the issue from many walks of life. In addition, the DDI has been established as an international NGO with charitable status in the District of Columbia and there will soon be DDI affiliates coming up worldwide.

In terms of our activities, the first has been to look at resource flows between diggers and exporters in Sierra Leone. The diggers make very little money but when the diamonds leave the country they are almost at Antwerp prices so there is a great deal of profit somewhere in the pipeline that needs investigating if we are to get better prices for the diggers. They have a fair idea of what a $5 diamond looks like, but they have no idea of the worth of a more valuable stone.

Another project will establish standards and guidelines for different groups within the industry in Sierra Leone. For example, there will be a set of guidelines for investors and another for the governments. Up until now, diamonds have been viewed as falling under the jurisdiction of the ministry of mines; however, artisanal mining should be the concern of many different ministries. For example the ministry of social welfare, the ministry of education, as by law the kids digging in the diamond fields are supposed to be in school, as well as the ministries of labor and of health. The government has to take a more comprehensive approach.

A set of standards is also being developed for development organizations to show them why they should take an interest in artisanal mining. Traditionally, the big NGOs such as Oxfam and Save the Children haven’t been interested. We have to try and persuade them that it is an important issue and to show them what they can do to help the situation.

IDEX: Why do you think that they are not interested in the issue?

IS: There are 30 to 40 million artisanal miners worldwide – in the areas of diamonds, colored stones, coltan and gold – which has led to some serious development issues. For some reason, however, none of this is of great interest to aid organizations. I think that it’s because mining is not as ‘sexy’ as working on health and education. There is also a feeling that where diamonds are concerned there must be a lot of cash around, so why do the aid organizations need to help. Even the Blood Diamond movie has not really made a difference. It is a big task with big problems but with big potential for success.

IDEX: How can the diamond industry/NGOs help to fix some of the problems that have been caused in Africa by the diamond industry?

IS: The problems of artisanal mining are large and have been going on for at least 75 years and in some countries for 100 years. It is not going to change overnight. One of the biggest changes that could take place is for the miners to have a better appreciation of what they are doing and where they fit. For example, the level of understanding in the diamond fields is almost zero when it comes to issues of value and legality. People dig and when the authorities come, they run away. It is important to inform them about what they would gain by becoming legal diggers, as well as what they might lose. It is also important that they understand that they don’t have to sell to a dealer who has been exploiting them for years.

If there was a diamond bourse or public auctions in a diamond area, for example, it could change everything. The diggers would be able to see exactly how much the diamonds they work for are worth; it would change the entire dynamic and move some of the control away from the middlemen.

There also needs to be more transparency where the middlemen are concerned – they need to keep books and those books need to be audited. Certainly, the middlemen provide services, medical assistance and tools for the diggers, but aid organizations do that for people who are farmers, so why shouldn’t they do it for diamond diggers and help to reduce the dependence on unscrupulous middlemen?

IDEX: What do you think about the issue of Fair Trade Diamonds?

IS: In general, the idea of Fair Trade Diamonds is a good one. But there’s a lot of confusion about what it actually means. A Fair Trade Labeling Organization already exists. If that organization were to get involved with diamonds, it would want to see a number of things. It is not just about prices, it is also about benefits to communities and the organization of producers.

The issue raises a lot of questions. Those diggers fortunate enough to be organized by a company or an NGO around “fair trade” will benefit, but what about all the others? What if nobody is interested in other areas? What happens to those diggers? Is fair trade only going to be available to those diggers lucky enough to have been selected by a “lady bountiful” NGO or company from outside?

In addition, the Fair Trade Labeling Organization is only interested in artisanal diamonds, but what about diamonds from Botswana and Namibia? Would that mean that they are “unfair” diamonds? There is likely to be some sort of tussle over the issue. Certainly, the DDI will help, but in my view, a broader label needs to be considered. For example, “ethical diamonds.” All diamonds could aspire to be ethical. It shouldn’t be beyond the industry to work out some basic ground rules about human rights, labor standards and the environment, like the “Golden Rules” that are now being applied in the gold industry.

IDEX: What would you say to people who advocate a boycott of certain African diamonds?

IS: The solution is not to boycott, but to confront the situation, to engage and make it better, otherwise, we will simply drive the industry underground in already poor countries and depress prices for the diggers.

A friend recently asked me how we can make sure that diamonds from Sierra Leone are ethical or ethically produced. The answer is we cannot, at least not at the moment. But that is not a reason to run away from the problem. Diamonds are Sierra Leone’s biggest employer and its biggest export. We have to find ways to move towards what we understand to be “ethically produced” diamonds.

Diamonds are also the biggest export from the DRC. Creating a semi-illicit trade in diamonds would make it worse for people who have already suffered through ten years of war.

IDEX: With regard to the diamond industry, which issues worry you the most?

IS: I’m not greatly worried about the diamond industry per se. It has taken on the issue of conflict diamonds and helped to establish the Kimberley Process. It is some governments, however, that continue to be reluctant participants. They create and sustain some of the problems that cause us so much grief.

The Kimberley Process has stumbled a couple of times in the last few years, for example, in the case of smuggling Ivory Coast diamonds through Ghana, it was the United Nations and not the KP that blew the whistle.

The same thing is happening with Venezuela. It has taken eight or nine months just to get the government of Venezuela to respond to some very deep KP concerns, and the issue is still far from resolved.

The volume of diamonds we are talking about in these cases is not large, but why should any country comply with the KP if it is not going to be tough on laggards?

With the DDI, we hope we can replace the reluctant compliance that some governments give the KP, with a level of positive enthusiasm. For this to happen, we will have to demonstrate that we are really making progress. I have no doubt that we can.

Objectives of the DDI:

To gather and disseminate information on artisanal diamond mining.

 

To promote better understanding of, and possible solutions for:

 

• Government regulation and mining regulation;

• Distribution and marketing channels;

• Organizational aspects of artisanal production;

• Legitimate and transparent distribution channels;

• Organization among artisanal miners;

• Free and open markets for artisanally mined diamonds.