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Anglo American AGM - Protest Demands De Beers End Trade In Israeli Blood Diamonds

inminds
1 May 2019

Protest outside Anglo American AGM demands De Beers end trade in Israeli blood diamonds #AngloAmericanAGM

Protest outside Anglo American AGM demands De Beers end trade in Israeli blood diamonds #AngloAmericanAGM

Protest outside Anglo American AGM demands De Beers end trade in Israeli blood diamonds #AngloAmericanAGM

On Tuesday 30th April 2019, Inminds Human Rights Group along with other activists, protested outside the AGM of the multinational mining company Anglo American in London. Anglo American owns De Beers - the worlds leading diamond company. The protest demanded Anglo American/De Beers end its trade in Israeli blood diamonds.

Eye-catching banners were displayed and pro-justice music was played. It was positively received by the public who snatched up hundreds of leaflets in no time, and stopped to chat, to learn about the issues involved. A short speech explained why we were there and the shortcomings of the Kimberley Process, purposely neutered to white-wash Israeli blood diamonds. Many had no idea of the horrendous human right abuses that profits from diamonds bankroll, further up the the chain away, from the mines.

A group of activists also went inside to attend the AGM, as concerned shareholders, asking many difficult questions to the board of Anglo American regards their culpability in Israels war crimes, and the risks it opens the company to. They handed a 24 page report on these, to each member of the board as well as to the other shareholders attending the AGM.

SPEECH

Israel is one of the world’s leading producers of cut & polished diamonds. It imports rough diamonds from companies like De Beers, more than doubles their value by cutting & polishing, and exports them globally via hubs in London, Antwerp, Hong Kong, New York & Mumbai.

In 2017, Israel’s net export of diamonds was worth 8 billion dollars making diamonds Israel's number one industry by far. Diamonds account for nearly a quarter of Israel’s total manufacturing export.

Israeli economist Shir Hever testified at the Russell Tribunal in November 2010 that “Overall the Israeli diamond industry contributes about $1 billion annually to the Israeli military and security industries … every time somebody buys a diamond that was exported from Israel some of that money ends up in the Israeli military�.

$1 billion dollars every year! Thats $2.7 million dollars every single day contributing to Israeli war crimes against children in Palestine.

In 2014 we saw 521 children slaughtered by Israel whilst they took shelter in UN schools and in their homes. At the time the Israeli Diamond Bourse boasted of sending truck loads of military equipment to help this slaughter of children.

And the slaughter of children continues till today with over 50 Palestinian children killed by Israeli occupation forces just last year.

On February 25th an independent UN Report investigating the killing of 183 Palestinians and the maiming and injury of over 6100 others with live ammunition in Gaza in 2018 found the Israeli military may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Kimberley Process was supposed to prevent the trade in diamonds that fund human rights violations. But the Kimberley Process's narrow definition of a “conflict diamond� excludes cut and polished diamonds.

Jewellers exploit this anomaly, and deceitfully claim diamonds crafted in Israel are conflict free despite the UN Human Rights Council having found Israel guilty of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

The Kimberley Process needs urgent revision as at the moment it’s simply used to white wash Israeli blood diamonds and present them falsely as "conflict-free" and "ethical".

In October 2015 at the AGM of the World Diamond Council in Moscow, there was a draft proposal to empower the Kimberley Process by widening the definition of conflict diamonds "to include countries who flout human rights laws not just in mining areas but also in diamond trading centers". The institutes of the World Diamond Council had already confirmed the change in definition, before the President of the Israel Diamond Exchange, Shmuel Schnitzer, personally intervened to put a stop to it saying "it could be disastrous for Israel". The already agreed change in the definition of a conflict diamond was binned to shield Israel's blood diamond trade.

Diamonds that fund war crimes are not conflict-free and are not ethical.

Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani last year emphasised that “No degree of financial performance is worth a life�. We are here today to ask Mark Cutifani, CEO of Anglo American, to put his words in to action by ending De Beers significant trading relations with the Israeli diamond industry, which generates huge revenue for a regime guilty of grievous human rights violations.

Thank you

Protest outside Anglo American AGM demands De Beers end trade in Israeli blood diamonds #AngloAmericanAGM

Photo Gallery

Anglo American Shareholder Alert - Blood Diamonds: Risks and Reparations

Press Release

Additional Video

Source: www.inminds.com

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