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According to an RJC auditor, providers just need to pledge that they carry out solid human legal rights due diligence, however do not provide any 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 various other substantive locations, as an example, on indigenous individuals' legal rights and on resettlement.


For instance, in March 2017, the RJC had 342 participants who had not (yet) completed the audit process that licenses conformity with the Code of Practices. In enhancement, firms can sign up with at any kind of degree of their operations. A little subsidiary office of a large jewelry company could apply for RJC subscription, without consisting of the rest of the business's entities.


The Code of Practices does not need business to publicly report on the concrete steps they have taken to perform due diligencea core need of the OECD Advice (diamond earrings). Its reporting obligations are obscure and do not state due diligence or the demand for companies to report on the actions they have taken to identify, evaluate, and mitigate threats in their supply chains

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A second RJC standard, the Chain-of-Custody Requirement, advertises traceability and is more extensive, but adherence to it is optional for RJC participants. By very early 2018, only 48 of over 1,000 participant companies had actually accredited entities under the requirement, consisting of 13 jewelers. The Chain-of-Custody Requirement calls for business to develop documentary evidence of service transactions along the supply chain and to validate they are not causing unfavorable effects in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.


Rather, companies are allowed to choose some "entities" under their control for accreditation, leaving various other entities of a company uncertified. While this might permit for companies to slowly change over to even more accountable sourcing techniques, the current method likewise brings the danger that a whole business appreciates the reputational benefit when the bulk of procedures is not in compliance with the standard.


All RJC member firms have to undertake an audit to show that they are certified with the Code of Practices, and to receive accreditation. Those business that select to obtain accreditation for the Chain-of-Custody Requirement need to undergo a different audit. Audits are based mostly on a review of the firm's created policies and documents, and brows through to a "depictive set" of centers.

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It is not a thorough assessment regarding whether the firm really applies or follows its plans throughout its operations. Large companies may have site procedures in multiple countries, and count on numerous distributors, yet still may get RJC certification based on check outs to only a few centers under its straight control without any kind of assessment of numerous others.


Audits are meant to consist of concerns on a wide range of human civil liberties, auditors are not constantly certified human rights professionals (Citizen Watches). Once the auditors finish their record, they only submit a summary record of the audit to the RJC, not the complete audit report, which is shared only with the firm




While labor misuses are prevalent in the market, artisanal mines offer revenue for numerous workers and hundreds of mining areas. Civil rights Watch thinks that the precious jewelry industry ought to make every effort to make certain that their efforts to mitigate supply chain human civil liberties threats do not lead them to simply omit all artisanal distributors from their supply chains as the "path of least resistance." Rather, they should support initiatives to define and professionalize artisanal mines and improve working conditions.


The OECD Fee Persistance Support identifies this and is promoting cost-sharing within the industry. In this way, all firms along the supply chain share the financial concern. A number of campaigns have actually arised that can help jewelers trace their gold and diamonds to mines of beginning, and extra responsibly source from the artisanal sector.

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About 600 adult miners have actually been signed up at 6 mine sites; kids can not sign up. Certification of particular mines versus responsible sourcing standards can offer jewelry experts with higher guarantee that the gold or diamonds they buy from those mines are not tainted by civils rights abuses. Nongovernmental companies such as Solidaridad and effect can play a vital duty in sustaining mines to boost practices so they are able to follow the standard; this may include steps to deal with kid labor, improve environmental conduct, gain access to financing, and establish straight contact with buyers.


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Two standardscertify artisanal and small-scale gold mines that adhere to human legal rights, labor civil liberties, and environmental standardsthe Fairmined Standard and the Fairtrade Gold Standard (tennis bracelets). Depending on the client's certificate with Fairmined, the gold might be totally deducible to the mine of beginning, or may be mixed with other gold.




This amount is simply a tiny portion of the gold used annually by several of the companies analyzed in this report. As of very early 2018, 8 mines in 4 nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Mongolia, and Peru) were licensed, with an added 20 mining companies working towards certification. The Fairmined Gold Standard is presently creating a new "market access" criterion that looks for to help artisanal gold mines while doing so in the direction of complete certification.

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It is carried out under the umbrella of Fairtrade International, and allows jewelers to map their gold back completely to the mine of origin. Fairtrade's initial qualified mines remained in Peru. Over the last couple of years, the Fairtrade Foundation, Solidaridad, and other NGOs performed a program of training and assistance to artisanal and small gold miners in Africa, and in early 2017, certified an artisanal golden goose in Uganda.