PAC 2008 Review Casts Shadow on Kimberley

The 2008 Industry Review released by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) on Thursday shows disturbing evidence of a large and growing trade in illicit rough diamonds running in parallel with the Kimberley Process Certification scheme.

The annual review that covers diamond trade in 13 countries of Africa and South America describes how an increasingly formulaic Kimberley Process regulatory system is becoming less effective in curtailing abuse and crime.

It reports on Venezuela, where 100 percent of the country’s diamond production vanishes without a trace every year, Côte d'Ivoire, where conflict diamonds still rule, and on the plight of Africa’s million plus artisanal diamond miners and the “police,” inspectors, middlemen and other predators who grow rich from their work.

“Just as peace is not simply the absence of war, an end to conflict diamonds does not necessarily mean that diamonds will create prosperity or that human security will prevail in the areas where they are mined,” PAC said in a statement, noting that conflict diamonds could return to countries where development is stunted and governance weak.

“That is why development initiatives in these countries are so important, and why efforts to strengthen the Kimberley Process and to bring greater transparency to the industry need all the support they can get,” PAC said.