The report “The Hidden Cost of Jewelry” by Human Rights Watch documents labour rights violations, child labour and poor working conditions caused by toxic chemicals in gold and diamond supply chains of global jewellery brands. The report scrutinizes steps taken by key actors in the jewellery industry to ensure that rights are respected in their supply chains and focuses on the policies and practices of 13 major brands. While some jewellery companies are actively working to identify and address human rights risks, Human Rights Watch found that most companies still fall short of meeting international standards. Human Rights Watch is also actively calling on the industry to put in place robust supply chain policies and to establish effective human rights assessment tools to improve human and labour rights conditions.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the 13 brands named in the report to comment, of which seven sent us a statement: Boodle & Dunthorne, Bulgari, Chopard, Pandora, Rolex, Signet and Tiffany. Their responses are provided below.

Two companies declined to comment: Cartier and Harry Winston. 

CHRIST, Kalyan Jewellers, TBZ and Tanishq did not respond to our invitation.

We will update this story if we receive any additional responses from companies.