Global Witness Leaves Kimberley Process

The organization also said that despite intensive efforts by a coalition of NGO’s the scheme’s main flaws and loopholes have not been fixed and most of the governments that run the scheme continue to show no interest in reform. 

“Nearly nine years after the Kimberley Process was launched, the sad truth is that most consumers still cannot be sure where their diamonds come from, nor whether they are financing armed violence or abusive regimes” said Charmian Gooch, a founding director of Global Witness.

“The scheme has failed three tests: it failed to deal with the trade in conflict diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire, was unwilling to take serious action in the face of blatant breaches of the rules over a number of years by Venezuela and has proved unwilling to stop diamonds fuelling corruption and violence in Zimbabwe. It has become an accomplice to diamond laundering – whereby dirty diamonds are mixed in with clean gems.”

The organization called the recent authorized exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe, “controversial” and said that the KP’s refusal to confront the reality in the country, including voter intimidation – which they say is funded by diamond revenues – is “an outrage.”

“Consumers should not buy Marange diamonds, and industry should not supply them,” said Gooch. “All existing contracts in the Marange fields should be cancelled and retendered with terms of reference which reflect international best practice on revenue sharing, transparency, oversight by and protection of the affected communities.” 

Global Witness says the industry should be required to demonstrate that the diamonds it sells are not fuelling abuses – by complying with international standards on minerals supply chain controls, including independent third party audits and regular public disclosure. It also says that governments must show leadership by putting these standards into law.

“Consumers have a right to know what they’re buying, and what was done to obtain it,” said Gooch. “The diamond industry must finally take responsibility for its supply chains and prove that the stones it sells are clean.”