kimberley process rough diamonds

KPCSC Calls KP to Fight Conflict Diamonds “Seriously” After Russia Blocks Discussion

A recent effort by Western nations – Ukraine, the EU, the US and other member countries – to broaden the KP definition of conflict diamonds to include state actors was supposed to be debated at a forthcoming KP meeting in Botswana; but, according to a report in Reuters quoted by IDEX Online, it was removed from the agenda “after objections from Russia, Belarus, Central African Republic (CAR) and Kyrgyzstan that it was a political move, and beyond the KP’s remit.”

 

In response, the KP Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC), the umbrella organization that oversees its activities, has issued a statement accusing the KP of being “no longer fit for purpose”. The statement read: “The Kimberley Process (KP) being unable to even discuss whether it should continue certifying Russian diamonds as conflict-free, proves what the KP Civil Society Coalition (CSC) has been denouncing for years, namely that the world’s conflict diamond scheme is no longer fit for purpose.”

 

The KPCSC then “calls on the KP to finally agree on widening the scope of what it calls the KP’s outdated conflict diamond definition, and to suspend the Russian Federation as KP participant until it unconditionally ends its aggression against Ukraine.”

 

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