Paul Nyathi|In 2009, Human Rights Watch reported that Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of then President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), were engaging in forced labor of children and adults and torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district.

According to the report, the military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange, in late October 2008.

With the complicity of ZANU-PF, Marange became a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.

The international body made hard hitting recommendations that Zimbabwe needed to adhere to for Marange Diamonds to be sold throughout the world.

Yesterday, the United States Of America blocked a batch of Zimbabwean diamonds from entering the country. The move has been met with a huge furore from the Zimbabwean government.

We publish below the full list of recommendations that were made by the Human Rights Watch Report that led to the action by the United States.

To the Government of Zimbabwe

• Immediately end all human rights abuses in the Marange diamond fields, including killings, beatings, forced labor, child labor, and torture.
• Remove the army from Marange district, demilitarize the diamond industry, and restore security responsibilities to the police, but ensure that the police abide by international law enforcement standards governing use of lethal force and illegal searches. Further to this, the government of Zimbabwe should, set up a local police oversight committee to monitor police compliance with basic human rights and international law enforcement standards.
• Launch an impartial and independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses, smuggling of diamonds, and corruption. Hold accountable all soldiers and police implicated in these abuses, irrespective of their seniority.
• End diamond smuggling, urgently resolve the outstanding legal questions of control and title to the Marange diamond fields, and ensure that only licensed miners are permitted to mine and that all buyers of diamonds are properly licensed in compliance with the requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
• Fully cooperate with KPCS investigation teams or review missions and ensure full compliance with KPCS rules and requirements.
• Put in place mechanisms to ensure greater revenue transparency from diamond mining and ensure that the Marange community benefits directly from the mining of diamonds in their area. This may be achieved by regularizing diamond mining to stem smuggling, licensing local miners, taxing them, and redistributing a portion of their revenue to the local community.
• Ensure that, in the event that relocation of the local community around the diamond fields is found to be necessary and in the public interest, based on thorough consultation with affected communities, such relocation fully complies with national and international human rights standards.

To the Government of South Africa

• Actively support calls for a broader inclusion of human rights in the mandate of the KPCS to ensure that any systematic human rights violations in the diamond industry of a KPCS participant result in that country’s suspension and ultimate expulsion from the KPCS.
• As a member of the KPCS, and as chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), press for speedy reforms and policy changes that will stop the export of smuggled diamonds from Marange due to the serious human rights abuses involved. Urge Zimbabwe to comply with KPCS rules, including stopping all smuggling of Marange diamonds and ensuring that all diamonds that leave Zimbabwe are accompanied by authentic KPCS certificates.
• Ensure that South Africa’s diamond industry is not tainted by diamonds from Marange and the human rights abuses taking place there. In this regard, exercise greater vigilance through the use of the KPCS “footprint”-a detailed description highlighting distinctive features-of smuggled Marange diamonds that would enable South Africa to more easily identify diamonds originating from Marange and stop them from entering its diamond market. South Africa should ensure that all diamonds imported and exported within its territory are accompanied by valid Kimberley Process certificates.

To the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

• Immediately investigate allegations of serious human rights abuses and smuggling of Marange diamonds outside Zimbabwe and any other violations of the Kimberley Process.
• Immediately suspend Zimbabwe from participation in the KPCS until it satisfactorily addresses the violations set out in this report and puts in place genuinely effective and transparent measures to regulate its diamond industry, stop human rights abuses, and end smuggling.
• Urgently review and broaden the definition of “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds” to include diamonds mined in the context of serious and systematic human rights abuses and develop an actionable response to KPCS members that commit these violations.

To States and Organizations that Are Major Consumers of Rough Diamonds, including the European Union, the United States, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, and India

• Support initiatives to speedily reform and broaden the mandate of the KPCS to include human rights concerns at the core of its mandate.
• Highlight the human rights abuses occurring with respect to diamond mining in Marange and require that these abuses end immediately and that there be full accountability for previous human rights violations, including prosecutions of those responsible for unlawful killings, torture, and other serious crimes.
• Support the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process until it rectifies rights abuses.
• Demand greater transparency and accountability on the origin of diamonds, including whether ZANU-PF is using diamond mining as a parallel source of revenue, which would undermine good governance, transparency, and accountability in the inclusive power-sharing government.
• Guard against the purchase of rough diamonds from Marange and exercise greater vigilance through the use of the KPCS “footprint” of Marange diamonds, which enables buyers to more easily identify diamonds originating from Marange.
• Take steps to inform consumers of polished diamonds that they should not buy, trade, or sell diamonds originating from sources in Marange, due to the serious human rights abuses taking place there.

To the Southern African Development Community

• Call upon the new government of Zimbabwe to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law in the Marange diamond fields and across the country.
• Insist upon full accountability for perpetrators of human rights abuses in Marange and press for appropriate remedies for victims.

To International Donors, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Other European Union Members

• Continue to press the government of Zimbabwe to investigate and prosecute all responsible for human rights abuses and end the prevailing culture of impunity.
• Urge the government of Zimbabwe to ensure wider accountability and restore the rule of law, not only in the Marange diamond fields but generally across Zimbabwe.
• Ensure that development aid to Zimbabwe is tied to clear progress in promoting respect for human rights and ensuring justice for victims of abuses. Donor nations should set specific benchmarks and closely monitor Zimbabwe’s progress.