A report by Global Witness, published earlier this month, claims that diamond smugglers are using social media platforms – including Facebook and WhatsApp – to smuggle diamonds out of the Central African Republic (CAR) and into numerous international markets. This week, the World Diamond Council (WDC) stands behind CAR, reaffirming the country’s commitment to work with the Kimberley Process (KP) appointed Monitoring Team.
According to IDEX Online, WDC said in a statement: “Diamonds from the CAR have been slowly returning to the legitimate diamond supply chain under strict supervision of the Kimberley Process (KP) appointed Monitoring Team. This team comprised of government, industry and civil society representatives is tasked with upholding the strict guidelines put forward a year ago to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. The monitoring process that has been put in place has not come without specific challenges, there have been instances where issues related to the lack of documentation have arisen and as a result the Monitoring Team took swift and proper action to block shipments that were not meeting the established monitoring guidelines”.
Acting WDC President Stephane Fischler said: “The KP continues to become more efficient in our common ability to monitor the exchange of diamonds in CAR, thanks to the more rigorous and efficient work by the local Kimberly Process focal point. The WDC encourages continued dialogue to identify additional solutions to further strengthen our efforts, but there remains the need for the established guidelines to be strictly followed and local monitoring capacity enhanced. Diamond exports not conform to the agreed procedures, will continue to be barred from being exported”.
