Summary:
The HRW examined the sourcing practices of 13 leading jewellery companies and reported that none of them received its highest ranking of ‘excellent’ for meeting all the criteria for responsible sourcing. In fact, some jewellery and watch brands did not receive any ranking as they did not respond to requests to meet with the organization.Only Tiffany & Co.
received the second-highest ranking, ‘strong,’ meaning that it has taken significant steps toward responsible sourcing. Many companies rely on suppliers’ assurances of ethical supply without making further efforts to verify those claims, it noted. “When someone buys a piece of jewellery for his loved one this Valentine’s Day, he should ask his jeweller what he has done to find out about its origin,” Kippenberg added.The Indian jewellery and watch companies were ranked ‘very weak’ by the report for not taking steps towards responsible sourcing. Surat: The jewellery and watch companies in India need to make increased efforts to ensure that their supply chains are free of human rights abuses, an international human rights campaign group said in its report recently.The Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based non-governmental human rights organization, in its report has stated that jewellers can do more to find out if their gold or diamonds are tainted by child labour or other human right abuses.The HRW report has stated that leading jewellery and watch brands in India are not taking any steps towards responsible sourcing of diamonds and gold..