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According to an RJC auditor, distributors only need to promise that they conduct strong civils rights due diligence, but do not supply any evidence for this. Neither does the Code of Practices need jewelersor various other downstream companiesto have traceability or chain of safekeeping of their gold or rubies. The Code of Practices is also weak in various other substantive areas, as an example, on indigenous individuals' legal rights and on resettlement.


In March 2017, the RJC had 342 participants that had not (yet) completed the audit procedure that accredits compliance with the Code of Practices. Furthermore, firms can join at any level of their procedures. For example, a little subsidiary office of a large jewelry business could make an application for RJC membership, without including the remainder of the company's entities.


The Code of Practices does not need business to openly report on the concrete steps they have actually taken to conduct due diligencea core need of the OECD Guidance (Seiko Watches). Its coverage commitments are unclear and do not point out due diligence or the need for companies to report on the actions they have taken to identify, assess, and mitigate risks in their supply chains

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A 2nd RJC criterion, the Chain-of-Custody Criterion, advertises traceability and is extra strenuous, but adherence to it is optional for RJC members. By very early 2018, just 48 of over 1,000 participant companies had accredited entities under the standard, consisting of 13 jewelry experts. The Chain-of-Custody Standard requires firms to establish documentary proof of company transactions along the supply chain and to verify they are not creating unfavorable influences in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.


Instead, business are enabled to pick some "entities" under their control for qualification, leaving other entities of a company uncertified. While this may enable for firms to gradually switch to even more accountable sourcing practices, the current practice also lugs the threat that a whole firm enjoys the reputational advantage when most of procedures is not in compliance with the standard.


All RJC member companies need to undertake an audit to demonstrate that they are certified with the Code of Practices, and to obtain accreditation. Those firms that choose to acquire accreditation for the Chain-of-Custody Criterion have to go through a different audit. Audits are based primarily on an evaluation of the firm's composed policies and documentation, and check outs to a "representative collection" of centers.

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It is not a thorough exam about whether the company actually executes or follows its plans throughout its procedures. As an example, large companies may have operations in multiple nations, and count on lots of providers, but still may get RJC accreditation based upon check outs to just a few centers under its direct control with no assessment of several others.


Although audits are intended to include questions on a broad series of human legal rights, auditors are not constantly qualified human rights specialists. Once the auditors complete their report, they just submit a summary record of the audit to the RJC, not the complete audit report, which is shared only with the firm




While labor abuses prevail in the sector, artisanal mines supply revenue for numerous employees and countless mining neighborhoods. Civil rights Watch thinks that the fashion jewelry industry need to strive to ensure that their initiatives to reduce supply chain human legal rights threats do not lead them to simply omit all artisanal distributors from their supply chains as the "path of least resistance." Instead, they need to support efforts to formalize and professionalize artisanal mines and boost functioning conditions.


The OECD Due Diligence Advice recognizes this and is promoting cost-sharing within the sector. That method, all companies along the supply chain share the financial burden. A number of initiatives have arised that can help jewelry experts map their gold and rubies to mines of origin, and much more properly resource from the artisanal sector.

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Concerning 600 grown-up miners have been registered at six mine websites; kids can not register. Accreditation of details mines against responsible sourcing requirements can give jewelry experts with greater assurance that the gold or diamonds they acquire from those mines are not tainted by human legal rights abuses. Nongovernmental organizations such as Solidaridad and influence can play a crucial role in supporting mines to improve techniques so they have the ability to abide by the criterion; this may consist of actions to deal with youngster labor, enhance environmental conduct, accessibility money, and establish direct call with buyers.


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2 standardscertify artisanal and small gold mines that adapt human rights, labor legal rights, and ecological standardsthe Fairmined Criterion and the Fairtrade Gold Standard. Both require third-party audits of individual mines. The Fairmined Criterion was presented by the Alliance for Accountable Mining (ARM) in 2014. Relying on the client's permit with Fairmined, the gold may be fully traceable to the mine of beginning, or might be combined with various other gold.




This amount is just a tiny portion of the gold made use of each year by numerous of the companies analyzed in this report. As of very early 2018, eight mines in 4 countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Mongolia, and Peru) were accredited, with an additional 20 mining organizations find out here functioning towards qualification. The Fairmined Gold Criterion is presently creating a new "market entry" criterion that looks for to aid artisanal cash cow in the procedure towards complete accreditation.

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It is carried out under the umbrella of Fairtrade International, and allows jewelers to trace their gold back all the way to the mine of beginning. Fairtrade's initial qualified mines remained in Peru. Over the last few years, the Fairtrade Foundation, Solidaridad, and other NGOs carried out a program of training and assistance to artisanal and small gold miners in Africa, and in very early 2017, certified an artisanal cash cow in Uganda.