Kimberley Process must grasp opportunity to correct limitations - WDC president

As this is the final year of the Kimberley Process’ (KP’s) three-year review, the organisation must grasp the opportunity to correct failings in the system designed to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the distribution chain, World Diamond Council (WDC) president Stephane Fischler told a special meeting conducted on Thursday as part of the United Nations General Assembly's seventy-third session.

Fischler, speaking on behalf of the diamond and jewelry industries in the session entitled "From blood diamonds to peace diamonds: conflict prevention through the KP”, specifically addressed the KP’s capabilities as both a conflict prevention tool and a facilitator of sustainable development, good governance and transparency.

The session was hosted by the European Union and was attended by both the 2019 KP chairperson Alok Chaturvedi and the 2018 KP chairperson Hilde Hardeman, as well as by representatives of government, industry, civil society and academia.

In his address to the gathering Fischler noted that, while the UN-mandated KP Certification Scheme – launched in 2003 – has proven successful in reducing the flow of diamonds financing rebel forces in civil wars, it has failed to address other types of mineral-related conflict, specifically, systemic violence in mining areas.

He commented that since much of the systemic violence has occurred in and around small-scale and artisanal mining operations, the KP has seemingly squandered its potential to facilitate capacity building and sustainable economic development.

Fischler stressed that, by adopting a number of urgently required reforms, the KP has the capacity to correct its limitations.

Said reforms include improving the KP standards and modalities, such as the peer review mechanism; raising the level of representation and participation in the body; improving the gathering and flow of essential data; and creating a permanent secretariat, which will be staffed by full-time professionals.

Fischler stressed that the KP must galvanise its absolute commitment to its conflict-prevention mission, which will require the expansion of the definition of "conflict diamonds" to cover all forms of systemic violence, including those carried out by State and private security forces.

A proposal to this effect was put forward by the government of Canada at November's KP plenary meeting in Brussels, and was supported by both the industry and civil society participants in the tripartite forum.

The WDC president called on the KP to achieve consensus before the end of the year.

Fischler also told the gathering that the WDC was already conducting reforms of its own to enable the type of progress it is advocating for the KP at an industry-level.

These reforms include a revised System of Warranties, tracking both rough and polished diamonds all the way to the jewelry retailers – which now expressly reference human rights and strict labour practices –  and also support the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidelines for Minerals from High-Risk Areas.