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Article

10 Feb 2010

Author:
E. de Haan, S. van der Wal, J. Cross, SOMO [Netherlands]

[PDF] Rough Cut: Sustainability Issues in the Coloured Gemstone Industry

This report…outline[s] the social, environmental and economic issues present in the coloured gemstone supply chain…[T]he coloured gemstone trade can be linked to support terrorism and suppression in a number of countries…[T]here was a high reported incidence of child labour throughout the value chain, from gemstone mining to manufacturing…there often is a lack of adequate safety measures to prevent accidents in improvised mining sites…Other negative social impacts include poor public health…in mining environments and mining towns from lack of proper sanitation and hygiene…[T]here are currently no operational sector-wide initiatives or standard systems that aim to address sustainability issues throughout the coloured gemstone supply chain…we conducted an international survey on CSR policies of leading jewellers in the USA, UK and the Netherlands…not a single company returned the completed survey…[refers to Bijenkorf , Columbia Gem House, Cookson Group, Gemfields Resources, GemsTV , Siebel, Signet, Swarovski,Tanzanite One, Tiffany ,Wal-Mart]