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Jewelers’ Ethical Sourcing Below Par, Report Says
Feb 11, 2018 8:49 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Jewelry and watch companies need to increase efforts to
ensure their supply chains are free of human-rights abuses, a campaign group cautioned in a report last week.
“Many jewelers can do more to find out if their gold or
diamonds are tainted by child labor or other human-rights abuses,” said Juliane
Kippenberg, associate child-rights director at Human Rights Watch. “When
someone buys a piece of jewelry for their loved one this Valentine’s Day, they
should ask their jeweler what they have done to find out about its origin.”
The organization, along with 29 other civil-society groups
and trade unions, stressed that jewelry companies were not doing enough to
ensure they were sourcing responsibly. It’s up to jewelers and
consumers to be aware of exactly where and how the jewelry originated, it added.
Human Rights Watch examined the sourcing
practices of 13 leading jewelry companies, and reported that none of them received
its highest ranking of “excellent” for meeting all the criteria for responsible
sourcing. Only Tiffany & Co. received the second-highest ranking, “strong,”
meaning that it has taken significant steps toward responsible sourcing.
Tiffany can trace all of its gold back to one mine of origin, and conducts
regular human-rights assessments with the mine, the report noted.
Bulgari, Cartier, Pandora and
Signet Jewelers all received a “moderate” rating, having taken some important
steps toward responsible sourcing, such as conducting mine visits or publishing
information about their human-rights due-diligence efforts. Meanwhile, Boodles, Chopard, Christ and Harry
Winston were all labeled “weak” for having taken few steps toward responsible
sourcing.
With no evidence it had taken any steps toward responsible
sourcing, Indian brand Tanishq was ranked “very weak,” the report stated. Kalyan,
Rolex and TBZ received no ranking as they did not respond to requests to meet
with the organization, and provided no information regarding their sourcing
methods.
Many companies rely on
suppliers’ assurances of ethical supply, without making further efforts to
verify those claims, Human Rights Watch noted. Initiatives such as the Kimberley Process,
which places no responsibility on companies, and the Responsible Jewellery
Council, which needs to strengthen its standards and auditing practices, do not
do enough to provide abuse-free assurance, it added.
“Too many companies point to their membership in the
Responsible Jewellery Council as being all the proof they need of responsible
sourcing,” Kippenberg said. “But this is not enough to truly ensure clean
supply chains.”
Image: m01229/Flickr
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Tags:
Boodles, Bulgari, Cartier, child labor, Chopard, Christ, Harry Winston, human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch, jewelers, Juliane Kippenberg, Kalyan, Kimberley Process, Pandora, Rapaport News, Responsible Jewellery Council, Rolex, Signet, Tanishq, TBZ, Tiffany, Tiffany & CO., Valentine’s Day
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