June, 21 2010, 11:17am EDT
Kimberley Process: Halt Zimbabwe Diamond Trade
Despite Promises to Reform, New Abuses by Military
TEL AVIV
The government of Zimbabwe has broken its promises under the
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) work plan to improve
abusive practices in its diamond fields and should formally be
suspended from the Kimberley Process, Human Rights Watch said in a
16-page report released today.
Participants in the Kimberley Process - governments, the diamond
industry, and civil society groups that seek to eradicate the trade in
blood diamonds - are meeting June 21 to 23, 2010, in Israel, which
chairs the group this year. The ongoing human rights violations in and
around Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields should be at the top of their
agenda, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Kimberley Process risks total irrelevance if it ignores these
ongoing abuses," said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human
Rights Watch. "If the Kimberley Process can't take real action on an
issue like Zimbabwe, then what is it good for?"
Human Rights Watch has received new reports that soldiers in Marange
are engaging in forced labor, torture, beatings, and harassment. Human
Rights Watch documented
rampant killings and other abuses in Marange last year. Despite these
ongoing abuses, Abbey Chikane, the South African monitor appointed by
the Kimberley Process to investigate conditions in the area, has
recommended allowing diamond sales from Marange to resume.
As Zimbabwe recovers from a man-made humanitarian crisis, diamond
revenues could provide the country with resources for improved
education, health, and nutrition, among other basic needs. In its
research, Human Rights Watch found that there is so little proper
regulation of diamond mining that vast sums are leaving the country
unaccounted for. The country's finance minister, Tendai Biti, said in
March that no revenue from Marange diamonds had yet reached state
coffers. With an intensified military presence, diamond smuggling may
actually have increased, benefitting only an elite few in the party of
President Robert Mugabe, ZANU-PF, and its allies.
At its plenary meeting in November 2009 in Swakopmund, Namibia, Kimberley Process members, rather than suspend Zimbabwe, called
for the country to adhere to a work plan that Zimbabwe itself had
proposed. The plan commits the country to a phased withdrawal of the
armed forces from the diamond fields (but without specific time lines),
directs police to provide security for the area, and provides for a
monitor, agreed to by both Zimbabwe and the Kimberley Process, to
examine and certify that all shipments of diamonds from Marange meet
Kimberley Process standards.
Since November, the Zimbabwe government has allocated a small
portion of the Marange diamond fields to two private firms with close
links to high-ranking members of the armed forces and ZANU-PF. Large
parts of the Marange area remain under direct military control.
Chikane has made two visits to Zimbabwe. His latest visit, in May,
was marked by controversy. While he was there, Zimbabwean intelligence
officials raided the
Mutare office of a leading civil society organization, the Centre for
Research and Development (CRD), two days after the group's leader,
Farai Maguwu, met with Chikane and discussed confidential information
about the Zimbabwean armed forces' continued presence in Marange.
Police beat up, arrested, and detained members of Maguwu's family.
Facing threats to himself and his family, Maguwu felt forced to turn
himself in to the police. He is in jail, though he was not charged
within the legally required 48 hours, and his family is in hiding, as
are staff members of his organization. Chikane said that some of his
notes were seized by intelligence agents from his bags but he has
neither called for an investigation nor publicly condemned the jailing
of Maguwu.
"If Zimbabwe is jailing activists for writing about abuses connected
to diamond mining, then it is hardly meeting the minimum standards for
Kimberley Process membership," Peligal said. "In addition, the chaos -
and allegations - surrounding Chikane's visit and his approach call
into question the credibility, professionalism, and integrity of his
work."
Chikane's preliminary report,
issued on March 21, following a visit that month, focused largely on
the narrow technical aspects of diamond mining and played down the
abuses in Marange. Although killings by Zimbabwean state agents are
fewer in the area compared with the height of military repression in
October 2008, local residents told Human Rights Watch that there are
new abuses and that they live in fear of the army.
As one community leader told Human Rights Watch, "Soldiers routinely
force us to mine for diamonds; if anyone refuses they are tortured.
Life in Marange is hell."
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on Kimberley Process
members to demand an end to human rights violations and smuggling in
Marange and to insist on transparency and accountability within
Zimbabwe's diamond industry. The organization has also urged the global
group to recognize human rights issues explicitly as a fundamental
element of its mandate and raison d'etre.
A member of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy,
who was barred from visiting the area despite having the official
responsibility to do so, told Human Rights Watch, "Our natural
resources in Marange are being looted on a massive scale daily. And yet
government turns a blind eye and pretends all is well, and wishes for
the KPCS and the world to believe all is well in Marange."
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
LATEST NEWS
Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
"As FANFSA and the 702 reauthorization move to the Senate, lawmakers in that chamber need to take a stand for the rights of people in the United States," said one advocate.
Apr 17, 2024
While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
"The privacy violations that flow from law enforcement entities circumventing the Fourth Amendment undermine civil liberties, free expression, and our ability to control what happens to our data," said Free Press Action policy counsel Jenna Ruddock. "These impacts affect everyone who uses digital platforms that extract our personal information any time we open a browser or visit social media and other websites—even when we go to events like demonstrations and other places with our phones revealing our locations."
"We're grateful that the House passed these vital and popular protections," she added. "The bill would prevent flagrant abuses of our privacy by government authorities in league with unscrupulous third-party data brokers. Making this legislation into law with Senate passage too would be a decisive and long-overdue action against government misuse of this clandestine business sector that traffics in our personal data for profit."
Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
"As FANFSA and the 702 reauthorization move to the Senate, lawmakers in that chamber need to take a stand for the rights of people in the United States," she argued. "That means passing FANFSA and reforming Section 702 authority—and prioritizing everyone's First and Fourth Amendment rights."
Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
"The passage of the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale underscores the extent to which reining in abusive warrantless surveillance is a bipartisan issue," Scott said. "We urge the Senate to take up this measure and close the data broker loophole."
Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
Hamadanchy added that "we hope this vote puts a fire under the Senate to protect their constituents and rein in the government's warrantless surveillance of Americans, once and for all."
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a critic of the pending 702 bill and FANFSA's lead sponsor in the upper chamber, called the the House's Wednesday vote "a huge win for privacy" and said that "now it's time for the Senate to follow suit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Leaked Cables Show Biden Pressuring Nations to Oppose Palestine's UN Membership
"This is the evidence that President Biden's talk about a two-state solution is nothing but idle talk," said one former Lebanese diplomat.
Apr 17, 2024
As the United Nations Security Council prepares to vote Thursday on Palestine's bid to become a full U.N. member, the Biden administration—which claims to support Palestinian statehood—is lobbying UNSC nations in an effort to wrangle enough "no" votes so that the United States can avoid resorting to a veto.
Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."
"We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of 'Palestine' as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks," the document advises.
The U.S. argument essentially is that the U.N. should not create an independent Palestinian state by fiat—even though that's precisely how the world body voted in 1947 to establish the modern state of Israel.
The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold off on seeking full membership.
"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official toldAxios on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial request."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
Along with the United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom are permanent members of the UNSC, so they also have veto power.
Ahead of Thursday's planned vote, Spain has been doing its own lobbying in Europe to build greater support for Palestinian statehood. At a joint Tuesday press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said the question is "when, not if, but when is the best moment to recognize Palestine."
Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.
Currently, 139 of the U.N.'s 193 member states recognize Palestine as an independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
Critics pointed to the leaked cables as more proof of U.S. duplicity and double standards on the Israel-Palestine issue.
"This is the evidence that President Biden's talk about a two-state solution is nothing but idle talk," Massoud Maalouf, a former Lebanese ambassador to Canada, Chile, and Poland, said on social media.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Database Exposes 'Illicit Network Undermining Democracy Around the World'
Yanis Varoufakis hailed the effort as "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
Apr 17, 2024
"Coups. Assassinations. Riots. Detentions. Disinformation. We know the tactics that have been deployed to undermine our democracies. But who is behind them?"
Progressive International (PI) asks and answers this and other questions with an extensive new database published Wednesday that connects the dots in what the leftist group calls the "Reactionary International"—a loose global network of right-wing leaders and organizations working to subvert democratic institutions.
PI calls it an "illicit network undermining democracy around the world."
"Today is a mask-off moment for the Reactionary International and the parties, politicians, judges, journalists, foundations, think tanks, tech platforms, NGOs, activists, financiers, and entrepreneurs that comprise it," PI said.
"After a year of preparation, we finally open the doors to our new research consortium, exposing the global network of reactionary forces that corrode our democracies, destroy our planet, and drive us closer to world war," the group added.
"The twin insurrections at the U.S. Capitol in 2021 and BrasÃlia's Three Powers Plaza in 2023 left no doubt about the international coordination of reactionary forces," PI argued. "Yet far too little is known about the entities of this network, their sources of financing, and their institutional allies operating inside our political systems."
Ultimately, PI aims to "support democratic systems to become more resilient to their insidious tactics."
From leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and former U.S. President Donald Trump—the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee—to evangelical Christian groups influencing laws in African countries criminalizing LGBTQ+ people and tech companies empowering ubiquitous state surveillance, Reactionary International is a who's-who of the world's right-wing forces.
A cursory search of the database's contents shows users can:
- Learn about Israel's NSO, Rayzone, and Team Jorge, and how a team of Tel Aviv tech entrepreneurs fuel unrest in Latin America;
- Meet the Grey Wolves, Turkey's roving death squad with links to President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan and the ethno-nationalists in his governing coalition; and
- Explore the global network of the Falun Gong, its Trump-connected media outlet The Epoch Times, and its traveling dance troupe known as Shen Yun.
Yanis Varoufakis, a PI member and secretary-general of the left-wing Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, called the database "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
PI invites the public to contribute to the database.
"Together, we will not only name, shame, and expose the forces of the far right—but also dismantle their network of complicity," the group said.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular