Zimbabwe Diamond Sales Highlight Strengths and Weaknesses in International Law
Diamonds are forever, but international law is always changing. Zimbabwe recently tested the flexibility of international agreements by asserting that it would sell stockpiled diamonds on the open market in defiance of the United Nations-backed Kimberley Process that is designed to reduce “conflict diamonds.” Negations eventually resulted in the sale of a large number of diamonds. The incident points out some flaws within international law, but the recently forged solution highlights some positive aspects as well.
A Country in Shambles
Zimbabwe is cash poor and diamond rich. In 2008 the country suffered from “hyper inflation” at a mind-boggling rate of 14.9 billion percent. To say that the country has a “wide variety of difficult economic problems” is an understatement. In response to surging inflation, the Zimbabwean dollar was taken out of circulation in 2009. The country’s GDP ranked 211th in the world, behind several small island nations. The unemployment rate is near 95 percent. However, Zimbabwe is also home to vast amounts of diamonds. Mark Van Bockstael, the head of a UN sponsored effort to reduce conflict diamonds, called the cache in Zimbabwe a “freak of nature.” It is from this huge natural reserve that Zimbabwe has acquired stockpile of diamonds valued at $1.7 billion that it wants to sell.
Damming reports on the state of Zimbabwe come from many directions. The current problem is that these diamonds came from the controversial Marange fields. Previously, there were reports of illegal mining and human rights abuses in these mines, and the government sent its soldiers to take control. However, the international companies that previously owned the mines claim this was a ruse to take over the mines and turn them into a money machine for the government. Regardless of the real reason, the new boss seems to manage the mines much like the old boss. Now, new reports on human rights abuses have surfaced. In one glaring example, the government made a sloppy attempt to limit the exposure of human rights abuses by jailing Farai Maguwu, the director of Centre for Research and Development a Zimbabwean NGO, after he met with the Kimberley Process Monitor Abbey Chikane to discuses the human rights situation in the Marange diamond fields.
The Kimberly Process was Tested and Survived
The Kimberly Process (KP) was designed to reduce conflicts funded by blood diamonds by regulating the sale of those tainted precious gems. It involves 75 participating countries and a set of requirements that its members agree to meet. This allows the diamonds of each country to be certified as conflict-free and sold on the open world market. The KP is not a paradigmatic example of international law, such as the Geneva Convention, a bi-lateral trade agreement, or a ruling from the International Court of Justice. However, in its own way the KP is an extension of that growing legal body because it amounts to a legal agreement made between countries.
The brouhaha created by Zimbabwe initially showed the weakness of the KP and as is so often the case with international law in general. Despite widespread condemnation, Zimbabwe was determined to export the diamonds while the international community seemed either powerless or unwilling to stop it. Another embarrassing weakness was the ease that the KP can be evaded. For example, Zimbabwe was considering exploiting an obvious loophole by polishing the stones for export. Because, the KP only applies to the rough stones, it would have little authority to prevent these exports.
At the first meeting about the situation, representatives from Zimbabwe and members of the KP were fruitlessly sought an solution. However, at a subsequent meet in St. Petersburg a workable solution was found. For now, the diamonds have been determined to be conflict free and can be sold. In exchange, KP monitors will be let into the country to closely watch for human rights abuses in the mines. This example presents an opportunity to see that international law can accommodate dialog and compromise. The solutions that it comes up with may not always have the fixed rigitity that many parties want, but diplomacy as a tool of international law will persistently work to find a solution.
Zimbabwe and the international community are in a difficult position. Everyone agrees that the runaway rate of poverty in the country is shameful. However, under no circumstances does this justify human rights abuses or the flagrant disregard for the letter and spirit of international protocols such as the Kimberly Process. In the end, just as important as the process for selling the diamonds is making sure the proceeds directly help those in need. Hopefully President Mugabe is right when he says, “our mineral resources . . .will turn this economy and country around."
