Transparency of Diamond

Attempts to convince some of the world's major diamond producing countries to submit to an independent audit of their national diamond control systems were scuppered on Wednesday by a handful of governments, who argued that calls for an impartial review system went beyond the scope of the Kimberley certification process. Representatives from governments, the diamond industry and NGOs gathered for the Kimberley Process plenary meeting in South Africa this week, to decide whether or not to adopt a South African-backed peer review proposal.

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But Global Witness, the British-based lobby group, told IRIN that progress towards reaching consensus on the peer review mechanism was slow. "It is really disappointing, especially since the peer review system has the backing of the major diamond producer countries, international NGOs and the World Diamond Council. However, despite this strong support there has been resistance from some countries, including Zimbabwe and India. It is ironic that there should be any objections, especially since it's a voluntary system," Global Witness campaigner, Alex Yearsley, told IRIN.

Global Witness dismissed arguments that setting up an impartial auditing system had not been part of the Kimberley agreement. "Independent monitoring is crucial to the credibility of the scheme and, therefore, part of the certification process. The peer review system is a constructive mechanism to ensure compliance," Yearsley said.

Under the Kimberley scheme, chaired by South Africa, diamond producer countries are obliged to issue certificates proving that gems come from legitimate mines. Exporting countries that failed to respect the deal would be prevented from selling diamonds, and could face international sanctions.

Although the scheme was widely seen a positive step in curbing the trade in "blood" diamonds, advocacy groups have argued since its inception that the process was flawed, because of the failure to develop strong verification and monitoring measures. They have called for regular, impartial monitoring to ensure the certification system is transparent.

Another concern was the lack of progress in the collection and analysis of statistics, which are seen as an important tool for detecting trade in "conflict" diamonds. "There are a significant number of governments that have failed to submit the required statistics, calling into question their commitment to the Kimberley Process," Yearsley said.

Congo Suspended

A U.N.-backed body barred the Republic of Congo from the legitimate world diamond trade, accusing it of blatantly sending millions of dollars in smuggled gems onto the global market. Suspending the west African country was "necessary to safeguard the credibility and integrity" of international efforts to block black-market conflict diamonds from the $60 billion annual diamond business, said the group.

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The suspension was imposed after a May 31-June 4 mission to Republic of Congo that concluded the country had smuggled in from surrounding nations virtually all of the reported 5.2 million carats Republic of Congo had been putting into the market each year through Europe and the Middle East. Republic of Congo's officials trafficked the gems through the lesser diamond centers of Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates to evade more rigorous controls at the world's diamond hub, Antwerp, Belgium, investigators said, in confidential findings first reported Friday by The Associated Press.

The Canada-based Kimberley Process Certification Scheme announced the ban in a statement released on its web site late Friday in Ottawa. "The findings of the review mission are clear. The Republic of Congo cannot account for the origin of large quantities of rough diamonds that it is officially exporting," Tim Martin, the Kimberley Process chairman, said in the statement. Kimberley Process dealers "must have complete confidence that conflict diamonds are not entering the legitimate trade," Martin said.

The Kimberley Process was established with diamond industry backing in late 2002. The effort came in response to growing world concern about "blood diamonds" that fueled and funded 1990s insurgencies that killed millions of people in Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The process is meant to track diamonds from mines to jewelry display cases, certifying their origins so as to keep conflict diamonds out of the system. Forty-five countries have signed on to the process, representing 98 percent of the world diamond trade, Kimberley officials say.

Suspension closes legitimate diamond-trading channels to the Republic of Congo, barring the gems from Kimberley Process signatories including Belgium, the world's diamond-trading center, and the United States, which buys two-thirds of the world's diamonds.

Republic of Congo, which has little or no actual diamond production of its own, long has stood accused of dealing in smuggled diamonds from two diamond-rich, unstable neighbors — the similarly named Congo, and the Central African Republic. Investigators, in their report, found Republic of Congo was exporting diamonds at a rate "approximately 100 times greater than its estimated production." Republic of Congo authorities subsequently were unable to account to Kimberley Process officials for the "massive discrepancy" of their large-scale exports "in the absence of any reported production or imports," Martin said in his statement.

Republic of Congo officials — apparently seeking to evade taxes and hide revenues — also were formally declaring the gem-quality stones in Switzerland at far less than their market price, investigators concluded: just 98 U.S. cents a carat on average, compared to the average market price of US$75.90 a carat for uncut, unset stones.

Republic of Congo denied all the allegations. It denounced the suspension, calling it "arbitrary."