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According to an RJC auditor, providers just require to promise that they conduct strong civils rights due diligence, but do not supply any kind of proof for this. Neither does the Code of Practices require jewelersor other downstream companiesto have traceability or chain of custodianship of their gold or rubies. The Code of Practices is also weak in other substantive areas, for example, on native individuals' rights and on resettlement.


For example, in March 2017, the RJC had 342 members that had not (yet) finished the audit procedure that licenses conformity with the Code of Practices. Furthermore, firms can sign up with at any level of their operations. A tiny subsidiary workplace of a huge precious jewelry business might apply for RJC membership, without consisting of the remainder of the business's entities.


Finally, the Code of Practices does not require companies to openly report on the concrete actions they have taken to conduct due diligencea core need of the OECD Advice. Its reporting responsibilities are vague and do not discuss due persistance or the need for companies to report on the steps they have taken to determine, examine, and alleviate threats in their supply chains

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A 2nd RJC requirement, the Chain-of-Custody Standard, promotes traceability and is much more extensive, however adherence to it is optional for RJC participants. By early 2018, only 48 of over 1,000 member business had actually certified entities under the requirement, consisting of 13 jewelers. The Chain-of-Custody Criterion calls for companies to establish documentary evidence of organization transactions along the supply chain and to verify they are not causing negative impacts in conflict-affected and high-risk locations.


Instead, firms are enabled to pick some "entities" under their control for accreditation, leaving other entities of a firm uncertified. While this might allow for business to progressively switch over to more responsible sourcing methods, the present technique also lugs the threat that a whole firm appreciates the reputational advantage when the bulk of procedures is not in compliance with the standard.


All RJC participant firms have to undertake an audit to show that they are compliant with the Code of Practices, and to receive qualification. Those companies that select to acquire accreditation for the Chain-of-Custody Criterion need to undertake a different audit. Audits are based largely on a testimonial of the firm's created plans and documentation, and check outs to a "representative collection" of centers.

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It is not an extensive assessment concerning whether the firm in fact applies or follows its plans throughout its procedures. Large firms might have procedures in several countries, and count on several distributors, yet still may receive RJC certification based on visits to just a couple of centers under its direct control without any examination of many others.


Although audits are meant to include questions on a wide array of civils rights, auditors are not always qualified human rights specialists. When the auditors finish their report, they only submit a recap record of the audit to the RJC, not the full audit record, which is shared only with the firm




While labor misuses prevail in the field, artisanal mines offer income for millions of employees and thousands of mining neighborhoods. Human being Rights Watch believes that the precious jewelry industry ought to make every effort to ensure that their initiatives to minimize supply chain human legal rights threats do not lead them to merely omit all artisanal distributors from their supply chains as the "course of least resistance." Rather, they should support initiatives to define and professionalize artisanal mines and enhance working problems.


The OECD Fee Persistance Assistance identifies this and is advertising cost-sharing within the sector. By doing this, all business along the supply chain share the financial concern. A number of initiatives have actually arised that can aid jewelers map their gold and diamonds to mines of origin, and a lot more sensibly resource from the artisanal sector.

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About 600 adult miners have been registered at six mine websites; children can not register. Qualification of particular mines against accountable sourcing requirements can give jewelry experts with greater assurance that the gold or diamonds they purchase from those mines are not polluted by human rights abuses. Nongovernmental organizations such as Solidaridad and IMPACT can play an essential function in supporting mines to enhance methods so they have the ability to abide by the criterion; this might consist of steps to deal with kid labor, enhance ecological conduct, gain access to financing, and develop straight contact with purchasers.


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2 standardscertify artisanal and small-scale cash cow that comply with civils rights, labor rights, and ecological standardsthe Fairmined Criterion and the Fairtrade Gold Standard. Both need third-party audits of specific mines. The Fairmined Criterion was introduced by the Alliance for Accountable Mining (ARM) in 2014. Relying on the consumer's license with Fairmined, the gold may be completely deducible to the mine of beginning, or may be combined with various other gold.




This amount is simply a small fraction of the gold utilized annually by several of the companies analyzed in this report. Since very early 2018, 8 mines in four countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Mongolia, and Peru) were certified, with an added 20 mining organizations working towards certification. The Fairmined Gold Criterion is presently establishing a new "market access" requirement that seeks to aid artisanal cash cow while doing so towards complete certification.

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It is carried out under the umbrella of Fairtrade International, and enables jewelers to trace their gold back all the means to the mine of beginning. Fairtrade's very first advice certified mines were in Peru. Over the last couple of years, the Fairtrade Structure, Solidaridad, and other NGOs performed a program of training and assistance to artisanal and small gold miners in Africa, and in very early 2017, accredited an artisanal gold mine in Uganda.