H UMA N R I G H TS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34 th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 H U M A N www.hrw.org W A T C H Diamonds in the Rough Human Rights Abuses in the Marange Diamond Fields of Zimbabwe Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National UnionPatriotic Front (ZANU-PF), are engaging in serious human rights abuses, including killings, torture, and forced labor of children and adults on the diamond fields in Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe in late October 2008 after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange district. No one has been prosecuted for these crimes. “Diamonds in the Rough,” based on research conducted in Zimbabwe, documents how the police and army have used brutal force to control access to the diamond fields and take over unlicensed diamond mining and trading. The report examines how the army operation in late October 2008, Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), failed to end lawlessness, but instead allowed key army units access to riches at a time when inflation in Zimbabwe was astronomically high and the country teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. To help turn the country around, Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government must end the human rights abuses in Marange and hold accountable the soldiers and police officers who are responsible for the abuses documented in this report. Human Rights Watch’s research also shows how both the police and the army have engaged in corruption and smuggling of diamonds from Marange, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in potential government revenue at a time of severe humanitarian crisis. Zimbabwe is a participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which requires member countries to effectively regulate diamond mining and prevent smuggling. Human Rights Watch calls on the members of the Kimberley Process to broaden their mandate beyond “conflict diamonds” to enable them to address the abuses committed by the army and police in Marange. Groups of miners in the diamond fields in Marange in 2006. When the scramble peaked in October 2008, more than 35,000 people, including children and women, were either mining or buying diamonds in Marange. © 2006 Associated Press R I G H T S