"Global Witness: 'EU needs to take firm stand on conflict minerals'", 29 Jan 2016

Alice Harle: …Obviously, diamonds are generally mined in Africa and they really should be a means of supporting development. But unfortunately, what often happens is that they become a means of driving and sustaining conflicts. The Kimberly Process was put in place…to curb the fuelling of conflict by so-called blood diamonds…[D]iamonds need to have a certificate to prove that they come from conflict-free mines…The Kimberly process…did increase transparency; it did place stronger internal control systems on diamonds. But…[t]he…definition of a conflict diamond is extremely limited…Now, there are a range of human rights violations that are associated with diamonds amongst other harms and the Kimberly Process does not recognise this…There is really room and need for other responsible sourcing mechanisms…[T]he UN guiding principles on business and human rights…make it very clear that…[c]ompanies really have a responsibility, too, to respect human rights in their operations, whether it is in their own territories or overseas…European Union institutions are about to start negotiations on the final text of a draft law on human rights due diligence and this is in relation to EU companies importing products which contain gold, tin, tantalum or tungsten...The EU is a huge importer of these minerals and it really needs to take a very firm stand on this issue and to vote for a mandatory law so that the companies in the EU and ultimately consumers in the EU are not buying products that have been associated somewhere along its supply chain with human rights abuses.