Zimbabwe's human rights violations in the diamond-rich Marange field will not be on the agenda at the annual meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP), which works to remove conflict diamonds from the market.
Lobby groups have tried for weeks to have Zimbabwe placed on the agenda of the meeting, which gets underway in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, to discuss continued human rights abuses taking place in Marange.
The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association have been at the forefront of these attempts.
The Zimbabwe delegation to the annual meeting is led by mines & mining development minister Winston Chitando.
The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), which holds the sole licence to mine at Marange, is represented in Brussels by its CEO, Morris Mpofu.
Mpofu said on Friday there were no grounds for Zimbabwe to be on the KP's agenda, despite the push by lobby groups.
The diamond lobby groups have written to the KP before and also sent petitions to President Emmerson Mnangagwa over continued human rights abuses in Marange.
In one letter to the KP's chair, Hilde Hardeman, CNRG director Farai Maguwu writes: "Whilst the KP has moved on with regards to Zimbabwe, [the] reality of the matter is diamond mining in eastern Zimbabwe is accompanied by gross human rights violations in the form of both direct and structural violence."
Maguwu said the community in Marange is subjected to arbitrary arrests, physical torture and restriction of movement, among other injustices.
"The Marange community now falls under the Protected Places and Areas Act of Zimbabwe. It is a colonial law that severely curtails the basic freedoms of the people of Marange, all in the name of protecting the diamond fields.
"Marange is a huge open prison where citizens are reduced to state prisoners where they must carry an identity document at all times and be regularly subjected to illegal arrests and beatings by ZCDC security if thought to be artisanal miners," said Maguwu.
Hardeman said despite Zimbabwe not being on this year's agenda, the KP was closely following events in the country.
"I understand that consultations have been and are currently ongoing between the affected diamond mining communities, civil society groups, the mines minister and the ZCDC to further clarify the facts on the ground, and to develop recommendations on how best to address the concerns which have been raised," she said.
Maguwu told the Sunday Times the coalition was "far from satisfied" with the KP's approach to the issue.
"Nevertheless, we will take the opportunity to continue engaging with the government and ZCDC on these matters," he said...