Commodity Online
WINDHOEK: On Tuesday, the diamond industry from across the world meets in Namibia to decode the conflict diamonds conundrum. And delegates from all the diamond producing nations are taking part in the conference which will discuss threadbare the issue of conflict diamonds and the fight against it.

Around 200 delegates will discuss the impact of the Kimberley Process which was launched in 2003 with the aim of curbing the flow of conflict diamonds into the mainstream market.

Namibia, which currently heads the process, will host the three-day meeting to deliberate on efforts to further curb the illegal diamond trade that often fuel wars in developing countries.

Kimberley scheme aims to certify diamonds to prove to buyers that they are not linked to violent conflicts, but rights groups have already sounded the alarm over possible violations of the pact in countries from Zimbabwe to Venezuela.

Organisations like Global Witness has already pointed to worries over smuggling, money laundering and human rights abuses in the world’s alluvial diamond fields.

In Zimbabwe, the Kimberley Process is preparing a new report into claims of government-led human rights abuse in diamond mining areas, as well as smuggling and weak internal controls.

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses in April banned the sale of diamonds from the eastern Zimbabwean region of Marange, after authorities sealed off the area to allow a state-run firm to gather the gems amid reports that small-scale miners were forcibly evicted.

Venezuela agreed in 2008 to suspend its diamond trade until new control systems could be established. But a civil society investigation in May found that diamonds are still being mined and smuggled into legitimate markets.

Other countries of concern were Lebanon and Guinea, which were exporting significantly more gem-quality rough diamonds than they import.

The Kimberley Process emerged from global outrage over conflicts in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Now the Kimberley Process covers about 99.8 per cent of the world’s production of rough diamonds, with 49 members representing 75 countries working within the scheme.

Under Kimberley, rough diamonds are sealed in tamper-resistant containers and required to have forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border.

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