| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.32, 2.10.03, p24 |
| Publication Date | 02/10/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 02/10/03 “DIAMONDS are a girl's best friend,” Marilyn Monroe's dulcet tones proclaim when you phone the switchboard at Antwerp's High Diamond Council. Yet the gem of glitz and glamour is also linked with death and destruction. Take a United Nations' report from last year on Congo. It named six firms, three of them Antwerp-based, which have been involved in diamond smuggling in the former Belgian colony. The profits from this smuggling, it found, were being used to buy weapons fuelling the country's civil war, which has claimed up to five million lives in a decade through fighting and resultant malnutrition and disease. The Partnership Africa Canada charity is among those campaigning to expose the human cost of 'conflict diamonds'. “The diamond trade is secretive, perhaps more secretive than any other,” wrote the group's spokesman Ian Smillie recently. “Multi-million dollar deals are made on a handshake, in closely-guarded rooms and in crowded diamond bourses, where men gather with scales, tweezers and loupes [lenses]. Until 2003, tens of millions of dollars-worth of diamonds were sent across borders and across continents on approval, with little or no paper work.” After a significant body of evidence was gathered on the link between diamonds and wars in countries such as Liberia, Angola and Sierra Leone, a group of Southern African states decided to set up the 'Kimberley Process' in 2000. Its aim is to deter diamond smuggling, while at the same time protect the legitimate diamond trade in countries such as Botswana, where the precious stones account for some 80% of foreign exchange earnings. The EU has been one of the active participants in the process and, in February this year, a regulation came into effect across the Union's 15 states designed to give effect to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Under this regulation, EU countries and the diamond industry are required to implement rules for controlling imports and exports of diamonds to ensure they come from bona fide suppliers. In practical terms, this has required traders at Europe's two main diamond markets, London and Antwerp, to join an industry self-regulatory body for checking the labels and accompanying documentation with packets of diamonds. However, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) question whether the certification scheme is adequate because it does not require the compliance of the countries involved to be monitored at frequent intervals. “We want regular independent monitoring of all national systems,” explained Judith Sargentini, international coordinator with Netherlands-based group Fatal Transactions. “The traders in Africa can put a label on their packets but the question is did they put the right label on the right packet? “Industry is arguing that, now we have peace in Angola and Sierra Leone and a UN embargo on Liberia, the issue is over. We disagree as there is still a chance things could flare up again. Diamonds are a very valuable asset for warlords.” Sargentini acknowledged that the European Commission has been advocating a regular monitoring system, but other major industrial players such as the US, Japan and Russia are not so keen. African governments, including Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, aren't either. “They don't like to have people picking in their kitchens,” Sargentini comments. Despite the lack of a regular monitoring provision, one participant in the Kimberley Process explained that the governments involved can undertake a 'peer review' of a particular country if it agrees. One such mission, chaired by the EU, took place in the Central African Republic (CAR) as fears were expressed about diamond smuggling there following a coup d'état in March. It is considered no coincidence that the CAR issued a decree on ensuring greater controls of the route diamonds take from mine to export one week after the mission visited it. An EU official said: “The Commission has always pushed for effective monitoring. Regular monitoring could be one way to do that. But we don't want a situation where certain people feel threatened. The Kimberley Process has always been an inclusive thing, with the diamond industry and NGOs involved as well as governments.” The question of monitoring is expected to be one of the dominant topics at the next plenary session of the Kimberley Process, due to take place in Sun City, South Africa, at the end of this month. Article considers what the European Union is doing to ensure that only gems from bona fide suppliers are imported into the EU from Africa. A secret trade in 'conflict diamonds' has funded civil wars in Africa. |
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| Countries / Regions | Africa |
