Fair Jewellery Action

Inuit Activist taken to court for collecting rubies on his ancestral land.

Nuuk, Greenland (PRWEB) December 11, 2008 —

The 16th August Union, a collective representing small scale miners in Greenland, is using the upcoming trials of several of its members, accused of “stealing” rubies from their own Inuit Ancestral land, as a test case to illustrate to the international community, Denmark’s violation of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights. [Read more →]

Tags: Environment, Fair Trade, Fair Trade Gems, Green Issues, Greenland Rubies, Mining, Rubies, Spin by admin
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The Green Fuse is rising from the Earth to the bench!

Christine Dhein has put together a wonderful newsletter on Green Jewelry which assembles some of the resources for green jewelry production. Her information is geared toward small scale manufacturers, mostly studio jewelers.

Christine invites those who are interested in receiving this newsletter to email her at: christinedhein [at] yahoo [dot] com to subscribe.

Some of the data in that first issue includes information about a class she will teach along with Jennifer Horning (one of the founders of the Ethical Metalsmiths) at the prestigious Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. Half of the modest $100 class fee will be donated to the Ethical Metalsmiths.

The newsletter also references Green Jewelry Tips from Alan Revere.

Another excellent article that the newsletter links to is on the topic of “Less Toxic Alternatives” by Jeffrey Herman published on the website of the Society of American Silversmiths. This piece goes into specific bench tips, providing alternatives to toxic compounds, from Dr. Bronner’s Soap to Citric Acid for pickle. Best of all, this online resource will be updated as, “safer supplies and methods are discovered.”

These resources will be listed in my Trade Resource document which is my ongoing attempt to assemble information related to the ethical jewelry movement.

The work of these industry leading pioneers is to celebrated!

~Marc Choyt, Publisher.

Tags: Best Practices, Environment, Green Issues, Manufacturing, Transparency by Marc Choyt
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The Madison Dialogue has been perhaps the most critical organization in the development of higher standards in the jewelry sector. This document, recently released, explains the history and objective of the Madison Dialogue at this time.
~Marc Choyt, Publisher, Fairjewelry.org

The Madison Dialogue is a cross-sector initiative established to promote communication and information sharing among companies, civil society groups and others seeking to encourage best practices, sustainable economic development, and verified sources of responsible gold, diamonds and other minerals. Organizations, companies and individuals participate in the Madison Dialogue on a voluntary basis. [Read more →]

Tags: Fair Trade, Fair Trade Gems, Fair Trade Jewelry, M. D. Manufacturing, Madison Dialogue, Manufacturing, Mining, Spin, Transparency by admin
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Press Release, Partnership Africa Canada and Global Witness 12 December 2008

Members of the Kimberley Process (KP) Civil Society Coalition are calling upon the KP to suspend Zimbabwe from the rough diamond certification scheme, in light of recent violence used by the government to take control of the Chiadzwa diamond fields. Police reportedly shot and killed as many as 50 informal diamond diggers in November’s raid, allegedly termed “Operation No Return”.  [Read more →]

Tags: Best Practices, Diamonds, Environment, Fair Trade, Fair Trade Gems, Mining, Spin, Transparency by admin
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Within the last two years, a large diamond field has been discovered in Zimbabwe. A shocking article from the Guardian (December 11th) describes a recent massacre of small scale artisan diamond miners.

Helicopter gun ships and police with dogs. Bodies piled up and the typical cancerous boom and bust culture developed around this discovery. Once again, diamonds are covered in blood.

Yet the miners return, illustrating that diamond mining even in the most horrendous conditions offers a better chance at surviving than other options. These diamonds will find their way into the supply chain.

Read The Article Original Here:

Bodies Pile Up As Mugabe Wages War On Diamond Miners

In a follow up story on the massacres, the Times Online reports that the bodies are to be dumped in a mass grave.

Reported on December 13th, 2008, the Times reports, “In a telephone call on Thursday from the top government official in the district to the city’s deputy mayor is the firmest evidence yet of reported massacres in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the past month.”

Some 78 to 80 people are believed to be buried in the mass grave.

Read the follow story up here:

Victims of Zimbabwean Diamond Crackdown to Be Dumped In Mass Grave

Tags: Diamonds, Fair Trade, Mining, Spin, Transparency by Marc Choyt
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In 1981, in a small Tibetan village in the Himalayas of northern Nepal, I sat quivering in front of Wong Chu, a shamanic practitioner of the ancient Bonpo sect of Tibet. With his drums, bells, fire and chanting, he called in the local spirits on behalf of a sick villager while I watched silently in the corner of his stone hut. He wore turquoise amulets for protection.
[Read more →]

Tags: Birthstones by Marc Choyt
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Vukani-Ubuntu is one of the most important examples of beneficiation through fair trade jewelry manufacturing in the world. Widely supported by government and corporations, the project trains South African villagers fully into the commercial jewelry production, from fabrication and production to business skills.

Managed by my friend, the dynamic and magnificent Demos Takoulas, this project continues breaking ground, this time with its announcement of its alliance with Metal Concentrators. Their announcement is provided as a PDF below.

To learn more, you can visit Vikani Ubuntu’s website, or read the past interview on this blog with Lourens Mares, CEO of the Jewelry Council of South Africa.

Any company wishing to manufacture in South Africa through fair trade needs to contact Vukani-Ubuntu. ~Marc Choyt, Publisher.

Metcon Vukani Celebration PDf

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Tags: Best Practices, CSR, Gold, Manufacturing, Mining, Transparency by Marc Choyt
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An editorial perspective by Marc Choyt, Publisher, fairjewelry.org.

Interests in support of True North Gems and Greenlandic Bureau of Mining and Petroleum (BMP) are attempting to control public discourse by distorting the truth on the Greenland ruby on Wikipedia.

Their claims belittle the efforts of the Greenlandic Inuit to uphold the rights of small scale mining, under Article 32 of the Mineral Resources Act. [Read more →]

Tags: Fair Trade Gems, Greenland Rubies, Mining, Rubies, Spin, Transparency by Marc Choyt
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