Washington, DC — As the World Diamond Council (WDC) began meeting in London, Monday, to finalize their plans for stamping out the flow of 'conflict' or 'blood' diamonds mined in African war zones, human rights and Africa activists called on the gathering to strengthen proposals to monitor the trade.
In a statement just before the start of this week's meeting, Global Witness, a non-governmental organisation working to expose the link between natural resource exploitation and human rights abuses, called on the industry to "clean up it's act". The diamond industry is "conducting a PR sham to show how responsible it is when, at the same time, it is dealing in conflict and illicit diamonds," said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness.
'The Anatomy of Resource Wars,' a study released earlier this month by the Worldwatch Institute, found that local conflicts over control of diamonds, tropical hardwoods, and other natural resources have killed or uprooted more than 20 million people over the past decade, most of them in Africa.
Illegal diamonds form a relatively small percentage of the huge diamond market, but even this small percentage adds up to billions of dollars in value, according to Partnership Africa Canada researcher, Ian Smillie: "In 2000, the international diamond industry produced more than 120 million carats of rough diamonds with a market value of US$7.5bn. At the end of the diamond chain this bounty was converted into 70 million pieces of jewelry worth close to US $58bn. Of total world production, rebel armies in Sierra Leone, as well as in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are estimated by De Beers to traffic in about 4 per cent. Other estimates place the number higher. Although not a significant proportion of the overall industry, four per cent of $7.5bn - or whatever other estimate one might use - can buy a lot of weapons."
The continent's biggest plunderer, according to the Worldwatch report, was Angola's rebel group, Unita. "Between 1992 and 2001, the insurgency sold an estimated $4-4.2 billion in diamonds mined by its forces in the northeastern part of the country."
New industry rules that will be introduced January 1, 2003 require every diamond to be warranted - to carry a chain of warranties documenting every gem's journey from mine to jeweler, certifying that it is 'conflict-free'.
This is the culmination of a three-year effort launched by activist groups outraged at the use of illicit diamonds to fund a rebellion in Sierra Leone that became notorious for terrorizing by cutting off limbs of the body. Diamond sales are almost completely dependent on image and in May 2000, in the South African city of Kimberly, major companies and the most important diamond importing and exporting nations met to consider proposals to ban from global commerce what had come to be known as "blood" or "conflict" diamonds.
After two years of negotiations, delegates finally agreed on a certification system for rough diamonds in which every diamond mined would be certified at their point of origin by national diamond-control agencies.
This so-called "Kimberley Process" is scheduled for ratification by importing and exporting countries at a November 5 meeting in Interlaken, Switzerland. This week's meeting in London aims to draw up an industry position in advance of the Interlaken talks.
The Kimberly process is voluntary, however, and the activist groups that led the effort want something stronger from the industry. There were protests outside Monday's meeting by ActionAid, which complains that conflict diamonds are still entering the market. To help make its case, the group conducted an "undercover investigation" in which they found that UK jewelers are "woefully unprepared" for the new rules. When they approached sales staff in most shops posing as diamond buyers most shops did not know of the upcoming requirements.
"They believed their relationship with reputable suppliers meant the source of their diamonds could be trusted," ActionAid said in a statement, Monday. "This is not the case. Diamonds are still leaving conflict zones and entering the world markets."
Government support is crucial to effectiveness, World Diamond Council chairman Eli Izhakoff told the BBC. He expressed confidence that he would get that support and that the flow of illicit diamonds would be halted. "Anybody who is trying to sell diamonds better have proof where those diamonds come from," said Izhakoff. People will not be able to sell diamonds and say, "'I got them from my grandmother,'" he added.
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Words unaccompanied by tough legislation leave room for much doubt, say activists. "The UNs dramatic expose of rampant conflict diamond dealing, shows that public statements made by the diamond industry over the last two years have been nothing but a PR smokescreen designed to confuse governments. Governments should be left with no option but to legislate against these reckless diamond traders," said ActionAid Africa Policy specialist, Amboka Wameyo.
Last week, Global Witness and Amnesty International called for the WDC to immediately publish all the details of the Council's proposals for self-regulation. They also called on the WDC to develop a system of penalties to be imposed against companies and governments that continue to trade outside the Kimberley Process.
