Can luxury and more precisely jewelry be ethical ?

Résumé du document

There is a lot of special occasions and sometimes flowers and happyness are not enough. Sadly, when a customer enters a jewellry he rarely thinks of where the jewelry comes from or its social and environmental cost.

Extraits

[...] As a result, this sector is now the leading source of man-made mercury pollution in the world : 727 tons of mercury into the environment in 2013, more than twice the amount in 2005 (Mercury is a neurotoxin harmfull for the brain, muscles and vital organs of adults and especially childrens). An other report from south america highlights the same kind of black market jewellry. A massive airlift of gold between Peru, Bolivia and America was discovered. Illegal mines in peru produces tons of gold which is shipped via Bolivia to refineries in Miami. [...]

[...] Can luxury and more precisely jewelry be ethical ? There is a lot of special occasions and sometimes flowers and happyness are not enough. Sadly, when a customer enters a jewellry he rarely thinks of where the jewelry comes from or its social and environmental cost. We all are aware of the black market of diamonds (blood diamonds are diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance rebel or militia groups). We have red it in newspapers and saw it on movies. [...]

[...] Cooperation and honesty seems to be the key. The reality is a bit different : for a small enterprise it is nearly impossible to invest enough money to engage in corporate social responsability activities. Chopard is an exemple to follow, but as demonstrated before gold and diamonds are more than just beautiful materials, they are strategical and economical materials. In conclusion, we know the way to stop the scourge : traceability. It is achievable by beeing aware and willing to do the right thing at each step of the jewelry and luxury trade. [...]

[...] But, although laws exists against illegal mining, there is still bribes and a lack of engagment. Advanced trainning for law enforment is needed to say the least. As a result, international and local laws, police forces an reports can't stem the flow of this scourge. Maybe it is our responsability, « us » customers from the north to be more ethical. For exemple, in 2016 at the « festival de cannes » the famous jewellery Chopard decided to give fairminded jewellery to the actress Julianne Moore. [...]