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INDUSTRY MARKS 20 YEARS SINCE START OF KIMBERLEY PROCESS, AN EVENT THAT WOULD CHANGE THE DIAMOND BUSINESS

 

With little fanfare, possibly because the COVID epidemic had tended to drown out most other news, 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of a landmark event in the diamond industry – the founding of the Kimberley Process (KP). It was an act that was to change the business, both in terms of its image to the outside world and the way in which its members saw themselves.

In the late 1990s, civil war was raging in several African countries, and rough diamonds were being used to finance the guerilla campaigns of rebel forces.

In 1998, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1173. It imposed sanctions against the Angolan rebel movement UNITA, in response to its refusal to comply with the terms of a peace agreement that had been hammered out between the warring parties in the war-torn country. Among the measures taken was an embargo on imports of rough diamonds that had not been issued a certificate of origin by the Angolan government.

The following year in June, the Antwerp diamond center hosted Robert Fowler, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the chair of the UN Security Council’s UNITA (Angola) Sanctions Committee. He was looking for industry support in enforcing the sanctions regime.

The HRD, which was the forerunner of Belgium’s industry umbrella body the AWDC, sent one of its experts, Mark Van Bockstael, to the Angolan capital of Luanda in September of that year. He stood at the head of a task force created to help local officials develop a forge-proof certificate of origin, to enable the country to export rough diamonds in compliance with UN sanctions. The certificate was launched just three months later, in December.

What was created was a mechanism operated by customs officials in Angola and Belgium. Each certificate issued in Angola generated an import confirmation certificate when the parcel arrived in Antwerp. This was returned to Angola to ensure that that the import and export statistics from the two countries matched.

Thus, was developed the basic concept of a paper trail. In time it would evolve into the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

KIMBERLEY PROCESS ESTABLISHED IN SOUTH AFRICA

Things changed dramatically early in 2000. On February 3, CNN broadcast a documentary entitled “Cry Freetown.” It graphically portrayed the plight of victims of the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone, showing atrocities carried out by rebels from the Revolutionary United Front, who were seen seizing alluvial diamonds to fuel their campaign.

The United Nations released the Fowler Report on March 14, 2000. It detailed how various companies and certain governments had been complicit in the violation of the Angolan peace agreement and UN-imposed sanctions. It highlighted the link between the illicit diamond trade and civil conflict.

On May 11 and 12, 2000, a meeting was hosted in the historic South African diamond mining town of Kimberley.  Involving government representatives, members of industry and civil society, it was there that for the first time the concept of an international certification system for rough diamonds was discussed, as a means of curtailing the trade in rough diamonds that were financing conflict.

Kimberley, South Africa, the diamond mining town that was the site of the inaugural meeting of the Kimberley Process in May 2000.

The location of the meeting gave it name to both the organization and the certification scheme that were created.

In July the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1306, prohibiting the direct or indirect import of all rough diamonds from Sierra Leone for a period of at least 18 months. The resolution also called on the country’s government to ensure, “as a matter of urgency,” the effective operation of a certificate of origin regime for the trade in diamonds, and urged international organizations and other bodies to provide support.

That same month, at the World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, Belgium, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA) passed a joint resolution to create an association that would represent the industry in the campaign to eliminate the trade in conflict diamonds. They were joined soon after by CIBJO, the World Jewelry Confederation. This was the birth of the World Diamond Council (WDC).

The Kimberley Process Plenary in session in Brussels, Belgium, in November 2018.

THE KIMBERLEY PROCESS CERTIFICATION SCHEME

At an inter-governmental conference in London in October 2000, the Kimberley Process was presented with a paper prepared by a team of experts from the World Diamond Council, entitled the “WDC System for International Rough Diamond Export & Import Controls.” A decision was made to forward it for discussion at the United Nations General Assembly.

On December 1, 2000, the UNGA passed a resolution that became the framework for the introduction of a global certification system, and for individual countries nations to devise and implement national legislation covering rough diamond trading activity.

It would take another two years and one month before the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme would become operational on January 1, 2003, only after all member governments around the world had passed the legislation or regulations necessary to implement and enforce the system in their own territories.

Several months earlier, the WDC had introduced the System of Warranties, designed to extend the effectiveness of the KPCS beyond the rough diamond trade, through the polished diamond and diamond jewelry sectors.

Speaking this past September, during the World Diamond Congress took place virtually on September 14 and 15, WDC President Edward Asscher noted the historic significance of 2000. “It was a crucial moment in our history, and it changed the way we operate forever,” he said.

“As we showed through our involvement in the Kimberley Process and through our continued involvement to this very day, we are ready to act decisively to ensure that the diamonds in the pipeline are not tainted by conflict and violence,” the WDC president stated.

Looking back at what has been achieved over the years, the WDC President said that in terms of the original objective of ridding the pipeline of diamonds associated with civil conflict, the level of success has been considerable, with conflict diamonds making up considerably less than 0.1 percent of the rough diamonds in the pipeline today, compared to about 4 percent in 2000.

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