Chairmanship of the Kimberley Process diamond certification scheme — the international organisation that regulates the global trade of rough diamonds — has been passed to Canada, with the Russian Federation receiving the vice-chairmanship.
South Africa, the world’s fourth largest producer of diamonds and the country with the best system for monitoring diamonds from mine to selling point, was the first country to host the plenary session with its inception in 2001.
The handover, at a ceremony at Sun City on Thursday night, was facilitated by South African Mineral and Energy Affairs Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, following a plenary session with delegates from more than 70 countries in attendance.
Abbey Chikane, the immediate past chairman of the Kimberley Process said: “It’s been an enormous privilege to have chaired this all important process, which has brought considerable change and progress into the eradication of the global trade in conflict diamonds”.
The Canadian secretariat, headed by Tim Martin, will be tasked with the monitoring of member states and seeing to it that non-complying states are excluded from mainstream diamond dealing. Canada will hold the reins for a period of one year, after which their performance will be reviewed.
The illegal trade in rough diamonds has done much to perpetuate the continued civil strife in particularly third world countries, notably those in Africa including Sierra Leone and Angola, where military groups continue to sell diamonds in order to purchase weapons.
The Kimberley Process was initiated in 2000 with the mandate to agree the essential elements of an international scheme of certification for rough diamonds. It was born out of an African initiative and subsequent discussion at the United Nations General Assembly 55th session in November 2000 where a resolution was agreed on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict.
This resolution had the intention of breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflicts.
Immediately after this session a workshop took place in Namibia at which the world’s leading diamond exporting, processing and importing countries continued to consider the technical aspects pertaining to the envisaged international certification scheme for rough diamonds. Subsequent meetings took place throughout 2001 in Kimberley, Pretoria, London, Brussels, Moscow, Twickenham, Gaberone and Angola.
Last year a report was tabled during the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly concerning “The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict”.
In November 2002, in Interlaken, Switzerland, a Ministerial Kimberley Process meeting took place and decided that the Certification Scheme which had been in progress since June 2002 in some countries, would be officially launched world wide on 1 January 2003.
Although conflict diamonds only account for 4% of the world’s production and trade in rough diamonds, the impact of this 4% is so severe that there is a threat that world diamond trading centres could switch their purchasing patterns to exclude Africa in favour Australia, Canada and Russia. – I-Net Bridge