20th October, London: JewelryArts 24 Launches During Frieze Week 2023; The RJC, MGMH & GIA have come together again, fresh from the State of the Art Summit in June 2023 where they examined the future of responsible jewelry on campus at the Mineralogical and Geological Museum, Harvard University. One of the outcomes of that day was a call to involve more young people, storytelling and to educate the world more deeply with data, art and science about the importance of responsible practices within the jewelry industry and wider communities.

To that end, we are launching a competition called JewelryArts24 calling on artists, students, industry, and creatives in general to create a piece of digital art using data from the summit, expanding the message from that day to a global audience. The winning artwork will be displayed during Frieze London in October 2024, a cash prize will be awarded, and Nataal Creative Studio will represent the winner commercially going forward.

Nataal is the leading multimedia brand and creative studio celebrating diverse storytelling from Africa, its diaspora, and the global creative community. Its award-winning magazine, digital platform and event series collaborates with emerging voices to create uplifting narratives driven by a spirit of collaboration. In 2024 Studio Nataal will expand to represent a select number of artists from its network who are shaping the future of radical creativity.

Open to everyone, this interactive media competition was announced at an intimate multi-sensory dinner on the 10th October 2023 in conjunction with W1 Curates and Nataal in London on the preview night of Frieze London 2023. Visual artists Sons of Craft showcased a short film on the night using images inspired by nature, RJC, MGMH and GIA to begin this new storytelling journey. Chefs William Stoyle and Ryan Walker from Zero-waste restaurant Silo provided a vegan menu dedicated to fire and fermentation, with drinks pairings by Stephen Muttley with a botany theme.

Stage two of the competition will see an expert panel of judges announced and the JewelryArt24 website launched to support submissions. The finalists will be announced on the anniversary of The State of the Art Summit – 23rd June 2024 and the winner will be exhibited during Frieze London 2024.

“I’m excited to continue our mission of action and innovation which began with The State of Art Jewelry Summit to unite art, science, education and industry in the service of responsible jewellery. The future of jewellery itself depends on a wider global audience asking for ethical practise.” Melanie Grant executive director RJC

“Raising awareness of the implications and opportunities towards a low carbon economy is an endeavor and a responsibility the jewellery industry must incorporate into its mission. With a clear purpose, little by little I truly believe the positive societal impact could be massive.” Raquel Alonso-Perez, Curatrix, MGMH.

“Drawing from the rich insights of the State of the Art Summit, JewelryArts 24 fosters a new way of sharing the message of responsible practices in jewelry. This competition leverages digital art as a roadmap and alternate medium to illustrate the path towards a more sustainable and conscientious future in the world of jewelry, advancing GIA’s important consumer protection mission and to educate and uphold industry standards,” Susan Jacques, GIA president and CEO.

To submit your artwork please contact: JewelryArts24@responsiblejewellery.com 

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In fact, the United Nations General Assembly meeting in a matter of weeks, will convene in New York to strengthen the global agenda on this issue for years to come.

While an important milestone like this should be applauded, it can sometimes be difficult to engage in what’s covered at these kinds of multilateral meetings. We all recognize the importance of human rights, but can sometimes feel disconnected from the outcomes of such events.

In this month’s blog, the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC) will highlight the basic principles of Human rights, showing how Small -to- Medium size enterprises (SMEs) can engage in meaningful ways on this issue and illustrate that anyone can make an impact at the local level.

Let’s start with looking at the definition of human rights:

According to the United Nations (UN), “Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.”

While we can all agree this definition is clear and compelling, we’re left with a critical question: how do these rights translate into action for businesses?

To answer this, a brief review of relevant legislation is needed.

Arguably, the most important piece of legislation for Human rights is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. This document was created to address the atrocities of World War II and includes 30 Articles. These articles protect human rights on a range of topics, from being born free and equal in dignity and rights, to freedom of religion, protection from torture and the right of asylum from persecution.

Human rights risks may feel far away from your business, but human rights abuses or impacts can be found in any country, sector and workplace.

You likely already have been dealing with human rights risks within your own business, perhaps without connecting human rights language to it. Examples include:

• Your health and safety procedures
• Providing a safe workplace
• Your working hours policy
• Paying your employees correctly
• And ensuring there is no workplace discrimination

The UN Guiding Principles make it clear that small businesses also have a responsibility to respect human rights. SMEs often have less capacity and more informal structures than larger companies. A more informal approach to respecting human rights can still be effective, as long as there is a policy, a fit-for-purpose due diligence process and a process to enable remedy.

That’s the big picture on human rights, but what specifically, can you do about it?

We’re glad you asked. RJC’s new Human Rights Due Diligence toolkit, which has just launched, is available to the entire watch and jewelry industry, regardless if you are a member or not!

The toolkit features key enhancements, including context on Human Rights and what due diligence means for the industry. It provides practical steps to carry out due diligence and how these steps can vary based on a company’s size and role.

Each step includes a practical set of tools, including templates, forms, and checklists to simplify the human rights due diligence process as much as possible, particularly for smaller businesses.

Topics as important as this should be prioritized in every industry across the board. Importantly, the RJC understands that this can be daunting and many misunderstand how it applies to small businesses. The clear, holistic and actionable nature of this toolkit takes all that into account.

No matter what size a company is, it can make a difference to not only individuals working within the industry, but will have a positive ripple effect on families, communities and nations.

As always, we are here to help you. Even if you are not a member and you would like support or guidance on how you can make a change, email us at: membership@responsible.jewellery.com and we would be more than happy to help!

We look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.

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Personal decisions matter. Maybe you recycle, shop for second-hand clothes, reduce the amount of plastic at home, or walk instead of drive. But when we start looking at how to make our businesses more sustainable, things may seem a bit more challenging.

We hear, time and again, about companies that want to take their first steps in becoming more sustainable, but have no idea where to start. A simple internet search can unleash an overwhelming and intimidating tsunami of information; before long, you easily can be swept away in the tides of jargon, acronyms and complicated data!

At the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC), we get it, and we are here to help.

Put simply, the RJC is the leading standards-setting organization for the global watch and jewelry industry. Our mission is to help companies create and implement sustainable and responsible business practices, right at the heart of their business strategies.

Founded in 2005 by 14 major industry players, the RJC has grown to more than 1,650 members today. They come in all sizes, with our certification now covering nearly $100 billion of the world’s $164 billion jewelry market. Whether you are just a one-person band or a company employing thousands of employees, we help all of you.

In essence, our main priority is to look at where a business is on its sustainability journey and provide practical guidance and training to help it become more responsible not with talk, but with concrete actions tied to global standards.

How do we do that?

RJC have two standards: the 2019 Code of Practices (COP) and the 2017 Chain of Custody (CoC). Through implementation of the COP, RJC members work to bring about better social and environmental conditions within the broader industry, delivering meaningful results for workers, communities and the environment.

COP certification can reduce risks and vulnerabilities in a company’s supply chain and improve management systems and operating procedures to strengthen the business — making it more sustainable. Anyone can use the COP to improve business practices; but for RJC members, abiding by the COP is compulsory, and they must achieve certification showing that compliance within two years of joining the RJC.

Now, you might be thinking “that sounds like a lot of work,” or “I’m only a small company, I don’t have the resources for that,” or maybe even, “I have a million and one other things to do; and I don’t need the added weight of an audit!” These are all very common concerns members have when they first read our requirements, but they are not alone. We have a dedicated membership team spread across the world to assist every member. No matter the size, location, or placement within the industry, we help every step of the way.

The COP is designed to accommodate all types of businesses throughout the jewelry and watch supply chain. It is aligned with the world’s leading standards and requirements, and is roughly split into six different sections:

• General Requirements
• Responsible Supply Chains, Human Rights & Due Diligence
• Labor Rights & Working Conditions
• Health, Safety & Environment
• Gold, Silver, PGM, Diamonds & Coloured Gemstone Products
• Responsible Mining

These six focus areas help ensure people and planet are placed first to all stakeholders. They also ensure that each certified member is a responsible and sustainable business whose supply chain works in partnership with others to create a global sustainable watch and jewellery supply chain.
We know that when you start putting people and planet first, business benefits skyrocket. Companies see topline growth, cost reductions, productivity improvements, investment and asset optimization and are prepared when new regulations come into play (Mckinsey 2019). 90% of Gen Z believes companies must act to help social and environmental issues, and 75% will do research to see if a company is being honest when taking a stand on issues. (Porter Novelli/Cone’s 2019 Gen Z Purpose Study).

It’s clear that placing sustainability at the core of every business is not only important for the planet and a wide range of stakeholders increasingly looking for proof, but also it makes financial and strategic sense.

If you are interested in learning more about what we do, or have specific topics or questions, we would love to hear from you: membership@responsiblejewellery.com

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Photo (top): Meet the Maqque family, an artisanal gold mining family living in remote La Isla in Madre de Dios, Peru. La Isla has suffered so much deforestation due to gold mining that it looks like an island in the middle of the rainforest, hence the name. The Maqque family requested mercury-free gold mining training from Pure Earth after they heard about similar workshops in Peru. (Photo credit: Pure Earth)

authors: Jen Marraccino, Senior Development Director at Pure Earth & Magdalene Sim, Director, communications at pure earth

Gold, one of the world’s most precious resources, has imparted beauty and value, and sustained livelihoods for generations. But have you ever wondered how the way gold is mined impacts the health of people and the planet? International nonprofit Pure Earth is working with RJC member Brilliant Earth and others in the jewelry industry to raise awareness about gold’s connection to global mercury pollution and deforestation, and to implement solutions that are saving lives, protecting livelihoods, and restoring the environment.

About a quarter of the world’s gold comes from artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ASGM is the world’s largest source of global mercury emissions, releasing almost twice as much mercury as coal combustion, the second largest source.

It may come as a surprise to many that the gold in their jewelry and electronics could be linked to one of the world’s top toxic threats. Mercury released by ASGM travels, dropping into oceans and rivers worldwide, poisoning the seafood we all eat. When a pregnant woman consumes contaminated fish, their developing fetus is also exposed to toxic mercury, which interferes with its neurological development. While infants and children are overwhelmingly affected by mercury, everyone everywhere is impacted when gold is mined with mercury.

“This is why we believe the jewelry industry holds the key to solving this global threat. For the past 20 years, Pure Earth has worked to reduce the global mercury threat by training miners worldwide to go mercury-free, but our efforts can only scale up and be sustainable if responsible jewelers step in to help support, raise awareness and create demand for mercury-free gold mining. This will encourage more miners to change the way they mine, and fuel the transformation of both the gold mining and the jewelry industry,” explains Pure Earth President Richard Fuller.

“Recently, our work has expanded to include reforestation to restore land damaged by gold mining, and efforts to test a mine to market solution that connects mercury-free artisanal miners to the industry. Together–working with partners such as the Alliance for Responsible Mining, Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA), as well as with responsible jewelers–we have already been able to demonstrate that sustainable, affordable, mercury-free technologies exist to increase the production of responsible gold that does not poison our children, does not contaminate our precious natural resources, and is safe for artisanal miners and their families who do much of the hard work to get the gold into our hands.”

 

Dancing Cat Fever

Mercury is an elusive toxin. It transforms as it travels, polluting the air, ground, and water. It is so elusive that it has been quietly poisoning people for centuries.

The term “mad hatter” was thought to have originated in the 18th and 19th centuries, when hat makers were unknowingly poisoning themselves with mercury they used to process furs into pelts. It was only in the 1950s that the world found out about the terrible impacts of mercury poisoning on a mass scale.

A chemical plant in a village in Japan was releasing wastewater contaminated with mercury into the environment, which poisoned and killed animals and residents for decades before it was identified. Initially known as “dancing cat fever” because of the impact it had on the village’s cats, the disease was soon named after the village: Minamata. A movie of the same name starring Johnny Depp was released in 2020 about American photographer Eugene Smith, whose photos of the affliction made visible the awful impacts of mercury poisoning to a modern audience for the first time.

While we all know much more about mercury today, many of us are still unaware of its connection to gold mining. Around the world, many artisanal and small-scale miners use mercury to help them extract small bits of gold, sometimes from mining waste left behind by large mining companies. ASGM is an important livelihood for an estimated 15 million people in at least 80 countries who earn a living this way, and a further 100 million people who depend on the sector for their livelihood. Women make up as much as a third of the global ASGM workforce. Artisanal miners, their families and communities risk their health and the environment to do their jobs, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Photo 1 (left): A seedling being planted during a reforestation project. To date, Pure Earth has helped miners restore 10 hectares of rainforest damaged by gold mining.

Photo 2 (right): Pure Earth mercury-free training for the Chichiqueros.

 

Transforming the industry

It all begins with a simple question. Where does my gold come from? Over the years, when responsible jewelers ask and discover the answer to this crucial question, they usually begin looking for a better alternative. Brilliant Earth found it working with Pure Earth to transition the Chichiqueros ASGM community in Peru to a mercury-free model.

The Chichiqueros work in an area of Peru’s rainforest that was placed under a state of emergency in 2016 due to uncontrolled mercury contamination. With support from Brilliant Earth, Pure Earth worked with the Chichiquero Mining Association, which consists of 400 miners, who often work alongside family, to train its members in mercury-free techniques.

The word Chichiquero comes from the word “chiquito,” meaning tiny. It is said that these miners are known as Chichiqueros because they make a big sacrifice for a small reward: they unwittingly poison their families and contaminate their communities with mercury just to extract a minute return of gold.

After the first training session, attended by more than 40 Chichiquero miners, news spread by word-of-mouth and a local radio interview with the Association president. As a result, many miners not affiliated with the Chichiquero Association began requesting training, too, including the Maqque family, who live and work in remote La Isla.

Located in Madre de Dios, La Isla has suffered so much deforestation due to gold mining that it looks like an island in the middle of the rainforest, hence the name. The area had been scraped bare by larger mining operations, and artisanal and small-scale gold miners like the Maqque family make a living by finding the small bits of gold left behind. Now, with Pure Earth training, the family is working together safely, without mercury.

Fulfilling an Obligation to the Rainforest: Reforestation and Mercury-Free Certification

Building on nearly four years of collaboration with Pure Earth, the Brilliant Earth Foundation recently announced a new $300,000 grant to Pure Earth in support of a four-year project in Madre de Dios. The grant will enable Pure Earth and partner, the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), to continue work with AMATAF, an ASGM mining association. The work will include training and transitioning miners to mercury-free techniques, training miners to rehabilitate mining-damaged land through reforestation, and guiding AMATAF through the process of becoming Fairmined certified and to produce Fairmined Ecological Gold. [1]

It is imperative that miners be fairly remunerated for their mercury-free mining and reforestation efforts, as well as incentivized to continue these responsible practices into the future. Miners call it “fulfilling their obligation to the rainforest.” Companies which have made a commitment to buy responsible and/or Fairmined Gold have an important role to play, both through educating their clients and by providing viable market options for the gold produced by AMATAF and other responsible ASGM miners using mercury-free mining techniques.

Beth Gerstein, CEO of Brilliant Earth, an RJC member, is always seeking innovative ways to model responsible sourcing practices for the industry. “As a proud Fairmined licensed brand, Brilliant Earth is excited to create a direct connection between our contributions to Pure Earth’s programs and our Fairmined products. Through this Eco-Fairmined certification, we will be able to facilitate AMATAF’s direct access to Brilliant Earth customers and send a clear message that responsible mining investments and social and environmental protections are important to everyone” says Gerstein. “Brilliant Earth customers will be able to support AMATAF’s journey of reforestation and responsible mercury-free mining practices by wearing a piece crafted from AMATAF Eco-Fairmined gold.”

We are all connected

Pure Earth works worldwide—from Indonesia to Mongolia to Peru—to train ASGM miners to go mercury free. Over 1000 miners have been trained to date, with a growing waiting list of miners interested in learning the technique. In addition, Pure Earth has helped miners
restore over 10 hectares of Amazon rainforest damaged by artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Together with the jewelry industry, Pure Earth will continue to demonstrate that responsible mercury-free gold mining is not only possible but crucial for all of us, because we are all connected. Join us.

What Can Jewelers Do Now?

• Learn more about the mercury issue and how the jewelry industry can be a leader in solving this issue.
• Donate to support Pure Earth’s work or contact jen@pureearth.org/845-548-4769 to discuss ways that you can get involved.
• Participate in Pure Earth’s annual Pure Earth Pure Gold Jewelry Auction
• Watch and learn more about our reforestation work

 

[1] Fairmined: Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal and small-scale mining organizations who meet world leading standards for responsible practices. Fairmined is backed by a rigorous 3rd party certification and audit system that ensures that ASM organizations meet leading standards for responsible practices, delivering organizational and social development and environmental protection.

The Fairmined Initiative was created by Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM). ARM facilitate the empowerment of artisanal and small-scale miners, their organization and the adoption of good practices, promoting favorable environments for the inclusion of artisanal and small-scale miners in the formal economy. They create voluntary standard systems for production and trade and support the creation of responsible supply chains. ARM has a permanent seat on the RJC Standards committee.

Article by Jen Marraccino, Senior Development Director, Pure Earth, & Magdalene Sim, Director, Communications, Pure Earth

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