Business
Statement re Human Rights Allegations from RAID
Statement re Human Rights Allegations from RAID.
About this update from Petra Diamonds Limited
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n \n \n \n 12 November 2020\n \n \n LSE: PDL\n \n \n \n \n Petra Diamonds Limited\n \n(\"Petra\" or the \"Company\")\n Statement regarding allegations of human rights abuses from RAID\n Petra Diamonds Limited acknowledges the report published today by the UK-based Non-Governmental Organisation (“NGO”) RAID entitled ‘The Deadly Cost of Ethical Diamonds’ (the “Report”) which identifies a number of alleged human rights abuses relating to the security operations of the Williamson mine in Tanzania, which are managed by Williamson Diamonds Limited (“WDL”, the operator of the mine, owned 75% by Petra and 25% by the Government of Tanzania), a third party security contractor and the local Tanzanian police force.\n As noted in the Company’s announcement on 9 September 2020, Petra takes these allegations extremely seriously and has been engaging and cooperating with RAID since being made aware of the allegations on 29 August 2020. Copies of the Company’s recent correspondence with RAID (including Petra’s letter of 11 November 2020, which was sent shortly before the Report was published so does not appear to have been reflected in the Report) can be accessed here: https://www.petradiamonds.com/our-operations/our-mines/williamson/allegations-of-human-rights-abuses-at-the-williamson-mine/.\n The Company is working hard to address the allegations as a matter of urgency: a sub-committee of the Board, comprised entirely of independent Non-Executive Directors, has been formed to oversee the matter and an investigation has been initiated and is being carried out by a specialist external adviser in conjunction with the Company’s lawyers. The investigation is scheduled to be completed by the end of the calendar year and the Committee will consider the outcome of the investigation and the recommendations to address any findings. This may include any required remedy or corrective action to be taken as a result of the investigation’s conclusions.\n Pending the outcome of investigations into the veracity of the claims, WDL has appointed an external consultancy to conduct an assessment of WDL’s management of its security in line with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.\n Further, a number of enhancement measures have been implemented by WDL, which address certain of the areas identified in RAID’s ‘Recommendations to Petra Dia...