KP Needs to Embrace Change, WDC Says

RAPAPORT... World Diamond Council (WDC) president Stephane Fischler hasurged the Kimberley Process (KP) to implement changes before the end of itsthree-year review. "The organization must grasp an historic opportunity tocorrect shortfalls in the system designed to prevent conflict diamonds fromentering the chain of distribution," Fischler said in a special meeting onconflict diamonds at the United Nations General Assembly last week. The review process enables the KP to asses its operations, evaluate current needs, and improve the way it tackles issues. While the KP has successfully minimized trade in diamondsthat were financing rebel forces, it has not yet addressed other types ofconflict, including systemic violence carried out by state and private securityforces, Fischler noted. The KP can fix this by adopting "urgently required" reformsbefore the review process is over, said the WDC, which represents the trade at theKP. Those reforms include improving KP standards and modalities, such asits peer-review system; giving both the governments and the UN ahigher level of representation within the KP; improving the gathering and flowof essential data; and creating a permanent secretariat led by full-timeprofessionals. The KP should also expand the definitionof a conflict diamond before the end of the year, Fischler said. The WDC backeda proposal by Canada to that effect in November. Instituting these changes would enable the KP to make adifference in some of the most challenged diamond-producing nations around theworld, Fischler told Rapaport News at the time. Amonth those attending the meeting were Hilde Hardeman, of the European Commission, who was the 2018 KP chair,and India's Alok Chaturvedi, who is heading the KP this year. Image: Stephane Fischler. (WDC)