The key to eradicating conflict diamonds is to remain vigilant, says Belgium’s Minister of Economic Affairs.
Speaking in Antwerp at the sixth annual meeting of the World Diamond Council (WDC), Vincent Van Quickenborne compared the fight against blood diamonds to treating an illness.
“The scourge of conflict diamonds can be likened to a dangerous virus, and the Kimberley Process to a vaccination that keeps it dormant,” he explained. “Like a virus, conflict diamonds can mutate and try to attack once again, threatening the market and lives of innocent men, women, and children. But if the Kimberley Process (KP) stakeholders—meaning the World Diamond Council, the member governments, the United Nations, European Community, and NGOs—if they remain vigilant, then the Kimberley Process vaccination will continue to deal effectively with any renewed breakout.”
Held at the venue that saw the launch of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2003, the gathering concluded with a call to continue the campaign against conflict diamonds, despite WDC chairman Eli Izhakoff declaring their trading to have almost ceased entirely.
“The truth of the matter is the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has been so successful in monitoring the flow of rough diamonds into the pipeline that we concern ourselves today with essentially a limited number of instances of uncertified goods coming into the market, even though the diamonds in question rarely are sourced from an area experiencing any form of civil conflict,” Izhakoff said. “Our reason for behaving in this manner is clear. The system will work effectively only if all diamonds are traced, and not only those which are deemed to originate from a conflict zone.”
Izhakoff singled out Venezuela, praising the South American country for temporarily withdrawing itself from the Kimberley Process to get its regulatory system in order.
“The incidence of diamonds from Venezuela without KP certificates has a great deal to do with tax evasion and very little to do with civil conflict,” he said. “But from our perspective that is immaterial. The effectiveness of the Kimberley Process in preventing a re-emergence of the conflict diamonds problem is reliant on all participants following a zero tolerance policy. If any participant is unable to do so, then the entire system is undermined. The fact that Venezuela has agreed to take a time out so that it can consider ways of correcting its regulatory system is good for the entire Kimberley Process.” In June, the council called on its 29 member bourses to avoid trading, directly or indirectly, in diamonds from Venezuela.
