Children forced to dig for diamonds

Hundreds of children are being forced to mine for gems in Zimbabwe, a Human Rights Watch investigation has found. Cash made from selling the gems illegally is being funnelled to senior officials in Robert Mugabe's army, his Zanu-PF party and the bank of Zimbabwe, according to a report out today. The army is torturing and beating villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district in eastern Zimbabwe, the rights group’s report claims. It comes after a massacre last year in which more than 200 people were killed when troops seized control of mining and trading.

As many as 300 children are now being forced to work for soldiers in the diamond fields, Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates. A 13-year-old girl told researchers: "Every day I would carry ore and only rest for short periods. We always started work very early in the morning, before eight, and finished when it was dark, after six. All I want now is to go back to school." The report, Diamonds in the Rough, is likely to be a big embarrassment to Zimbabwe’s unity government. The Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, of the Movement for Democratic Change, has been trying to persuade foreign leaders that its reforms are worthy of cash aid. But the police and army are still run by Mugabe's Zanu-PF.

The report says: "While Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government, formed in February 2009, now lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country and corruption." It adds: "The government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as $200m per month, if Marange and other mining centres were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government's economic recovery programme, which would benefit ordinary villagers, like the residents of Marange."

A diamond rush brought thousands of illegal diggers to the Chiadzwa area of Marange district three years go. Miners claimed that they had seen colleagues being buried alive. A police officer told researchers senior officers had given orders to "shoot on sight" miners found in the fields. Villagers also talked of arrests, beatings, and harassment that by May 2008 had swamped a local prison with 1,600 prisoners, 1,300 more than its capacity.The army and police have access to Marange's gems at a time when the government is struggling to pay their wages. Soldiers continue to torture and beat villagers, accusing them of being or supporting illegal miners who are not working for the army, the report claims.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children