Jewelers of America Urges Retailers to Undo Report’s Damage

Jewelers of America (JA) has urged retailers to take steps to undo the damage caused by a report by human rights group Global Witness last month that accused major US and international retailers of not fulfilling promises to fight trade in conflict diamonds.

For companies that were named in the report and either did not respond or were portrayed unfavorably as well as for those that were not contacted, the JA suggests contacting Global Witness to clarify their position – including policies, procedures and practices regarding the warranty system.

“You should also know that Global Witness, likely in alliance with U.S. faith-based and human rights groups, have said they will be back to conduct more systematic research in U.S. retail stores,” the JA said in a statement. “In addition, Global Witness has opened an office in Washington, where the lead campaigner on this issue is to be posted. They are not going to go away.”

The Global Witness report showed that the largest members of the US diamond jewelry retail sector, which accounts for more than half of diamond jewelry retail sales worldwide, were not carrying out even the basic self-regulation actions aimed at stopping trade in conflict diamonds.

The self-regulation requires all sectors of the diamond industry to put into action a system of guarantees and a code of conduct to keep conflict diamonds out of legitimate trade and to support the Kimberley Process.

Out of 30 retailers surveyed by Global Witness across the US, including international luxury jewelry companies, national department stores, national jewelry chains and independent stores, only in four stores were salespeople well informed about their company’s policy and the system of warranties.

In general, employees showed a low level of awareness about company policies on conflict diamonds. Global Witness said this illustrated the failure of retailers to carry out a fundamental condition of the self-regulation policy.

Meanwhile, 25 out of 30 companies failed to respond to Global Witness in writing about their policies on conflict diamonds and self-regulation.

They included international luxury jewelry companies such as Bulgari, Cartier, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels and Wempe, US jewelry chains such as Littman Jewelers and Whitehall Jewelers and US department stores including Federated Department Stores, Inc (the parent company of Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s), and Saks Fifth Avenue, Global Witness said.