Partnership Africa Canada

Partnership Africa Canada
Abbreviation PAC
Formation 1986 (1986)
Type NGO
Headquarters Ottawa, Canada[1]
Leader David Kalete, Flora MacDonald[2]
Website www.pacweb.org/en/

Partnership Africa Canada, or PAC, is a non-governmental organisation which attempts to control the sourcing of minerals in regions of conflict[3] and campaign against "blood diamonds".[4]

Zimbabwe

Marange diamond fields are roughly 90km south west of Mutare in the eastern border province of Manicaland.
Location of the Marange diamond fields roughly 90km south west of Mutare.

PAC claimed that around $2bn (£1.26bn) worth of diamonds was stolen by Zimbabwe's rulers, such as the military, police, and "ruling elite", saying that "The scale of illegality is mind-blowing".[4]

PAC also claimed that Robert Mugabe gained $2 billion from looting in the Marange diamond fields in 2012.[5] PAC went on to say that "This shows Zimbabwe was wilfully in breach of the ... ban on Marange diamonds", following the leaking of a document from the Mineral Marketing Corporation, which detailed the proposed sale of $200 million worth of illegal diamonds through several Zimbabwe banks.[6] This led to criticism from PAC, and the Human Rights Watch.[6]

Diamond sale

Alan Martin went on to criticise major European banks, such as Barclays, for having investments in some of the Zimbabwe banks involved in the sale of diamonds; saying "By facilitating these transactions, Barclays, Stanbic (Standard Bank) and the IFC are participating in diamond-related violence".[6]

Publications

In 2000, Partnership Africa Canada released a report entitled The Heart of the Matter:Sierra Leone, Diamonds & Human Security: Complete Report about the effect of diamonds in Sierra Leone.[7] Since that time, they have produced a number of reports on the state of the diamond industry, and efforts to control the flow of conflict minerals.

Awards

In 2003, Partnership Africa Canada was nominated jointly for the Nobel Peace Prize, with Global Witness for their role in establishing the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme to limit the ability of armed groups to fund their operations through the sale of conflict diamonds[8] They were jointly nominated by the American Senator Patrick Leahy, and the American Representatives Ralph Hall and Frank Wolf.[8] However, the award was won by Shirin Ebadi for her work on democracy and human rights.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Contact Us". PAC. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Board of Directors". PAC. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "NDP introduces bill for tighter controls on use of 'conflict minerals' in cellphones and laptops". Toronto Star. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  4. 1 2 Smith, David (12 November 2012). "Zimbabwe regime accused of stealing $2bn in diamonds". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "Wilbert Mukori on Wednesday 17 July 2013". SW Radio Africa. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Howat Berger, Joshua (30 August 2011). "Foreign banks 'enabling' Zimbabwe diamond violence: groups". Google news. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  7. ↑ "The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds & Human Security: Complete Report (Google eBook)". Google books. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  8. 1 2 "NGOs Get Nobel Prize Nomination For Conflict Diamond Work". Diamonds.net. 2 March 2002. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  9. ↑ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2003". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
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