CIBJO Leader Addresses Corporate Social Responsibility

By JCK Online Staff -- JCK Online, 6/24/2009 1:15:00 PM

CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri recently spoke with an international group of students at Sciences Po (École des Sciences Politiques), in Paris, who are participating in a seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Cavalieri spoke to the group regarding CIBJO's mission and the organization's CSR policies and programs.

The students were taking part in a seminar with Hanifa Mezoui, chief of the NGO (Non Governmental Organization) section of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and also a lecturer at SciencesPo, on “The Planetary Crisis and the UN Millennium Goals: a new approach toward the private sector, civil society and corporate social responsibility.” Mezoui had invited Cavalieri to interact with her students.

In his address, Cavalieri highlighted CIBJO’s role in the international jewelery industry and trade, its mission and, in particular, the role it had taken upon itself within the framework of the UN's Economic and Social Council (EcoSoc), with the purpose of achieving the millennium goals.

Stressing that corporate social responsibility can only be achieved through educating members of the gem and jewelry industry, the CIBJO president also presented a brief outline of the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF) that was established in 2008 to educate the jewelery industry on CSR.

CIBJO president Gaetano Cavalieri.

“The students who participated in the seminar will not only be the policymakers of tomorrow but also the all-important consumers who make their purchasing decisions based on how our industry performs,” says Cavalieri in a CIBJO media release. “And, some of them will no doubt play a crucial role in shaping future policies internationally in the realm of CSR. I hope the event was as inspiring for them as it was for me.”