The Kimberley Process

http://blooddiamonds.org/the-kimberley-process/
In the 1990′s the UN coined the term bloods or conflict diamonds. Blood diamonds are considered those diamonds used as a currency by rebels to finance their wars against the legitimate government. Because these rebels forced unarmed people to work day and night in those mines the diamonds got their name as blood diamonds.



The Kimberley Process is a ratified agreement by members of the United Nations that calls for an international certification standard for all rough diamonds. The Kimberley Process gave birth to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) – this document sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade. The Kimberely Process is open to any member country that wants to partake, so long as they agree and are willing to implement the requirements of the KPCS. As of 2009 there were 49 members which totaled 75 countries. The participating members of the Kimberley Process account for 99.8% of all diamondproducing nations in the world.

The UN began taking severe actions against these countries by restricting or banning their export of money and imposing severe actions against them. In 2006 the Blood Diamond movie presented the tragic lives of those forced to work in diamond mines. From that moment everyone turned their attention to the harsh realty of conflict diamonds and started to question the true value and origin of a diamond.

The Kimberley Process has done more than just curtail the flow of conflict diamonds, it has also helped stabilize fragile countries and supported their development. As the Kimberley Process has made life harder for criminals, it has brought large volumes of diamonds onto the legal market that would not otherwise have made it there. This has increased the revenues of poor governments, and helped them to address their countries’ development challenges. For instance, some $125 million worth of diamonds were legally exported from Sierra Leone in 2006, compared to almost none at the end of the 1990s.

Capitalism

   Capitalism is an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. Capitalism is also something that most of the world sees as a valid and effective way of running business, but is it?

   Capitalism operates on producing a good or a service for a price but that price isn't always monetary. Sometimes that price is cheap labor, bad wages and blood. When speaking about the diamond industry it's rarely missed that many diamonds have been funding insurgencies and rebel groups in attacking legitimate governments. These wars have plagued West Africa for many, many years, governments have failed to step in and attempt to stop these wars because of capitalism. Many countries ignored the problems in Sierra Leone and other African countries because of the thoughts of negatively impacting the diamond industry and capitalism. 

"As cold as the company's response to publicity about conflict diamonds sounds-- the potential commercial loss is "enormous but the moral dimension is merely "big",as if it were an afterthought-- De Beers is at least consistent in it's thinking.Very little, if anything, has been done in the company's lifetime that didn't further its commercial potential, even if it meant funding warfare to do it. Before the conflict-diamond issue gathered steam, it made economic sense to continue to trade with killers since no one was paying attention and it didn't threaten the demand for the goods after the issue began attracting the attention of the human-rights organizations and the people started whispering the dreaded "B" word(boycott), it made economic sense for the industry to wash its hands for good. Since De Beers is the world's largest dealer in rough diamonds, not only was a great deal of responsibility placed at its feet in early 2000, but so were many expectations that the company would act swiftly to end the practice."

                                                                                                              Greg Campbell, Author of Blood Diamond

Although capitalism has worked for many countries as an effective way of handling business, when it comes to the African people and the diamond industry it has been a destructive and bloody institution. 

 So in conclusion, the diamond market and capitalism hasn't been helpful when it comes to 

saving lives in Africa.  

Solving the Problem

By: Matt Skabelund

Conflict diamonds have been a problem in West Africa for some time. Diamonds in West Africa come very easily; the countries are permeated with diamonds that have been both a blessing and a curse. More so a curse in recent years, with wars between different factions and groups ravishing the country and governments of the countries not doing much to stop the conflict diamonds but more to control the conflict diamonds for themselves. Though each situation is different and implications due to involvement have kept some countries from doing anything to help these war-ridden countries, steps have been taken to create a conflict-free diamond market.

The United Nations Security Council began attempting to stop the flow of conflict diamonds in the early 1990’s by imposing sanctions and embargoes on country of Angola and more specifically the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola(UNITA). The main embargo was on the imports of arms, in hope that it would end conflict in Angola. This was just the first of many resolutions established by the Security Council. After many embargoes and resolutions the Security Council established what is called a Monitoring Mechanism because of UNITA’s failure to comply with any of the resolutions the Council had set up. The Mechanism was a panel of experts that kept a close eye on the actions of the UNITA. As of today the UNITA has been reduced from a rebel group to a political party.

The United Nations Security Council also initiated similar embargoes and sanctions on the countries of Sierra Leone and eventually Liberia. Over the course of a decade the Security Council had placed sanctions and embargoes on three countries associated with conflict diamonds. This helped with the diamond trade but hasn’t eliminated them from the legitimate diamond market.

Although these embargoes were better than nothing, after a report from Global Witness about conflict diamonds, meetings began being held in Kimberley, South Africa about stopping the flow of conflict diamonds. In January of 2003, the Kimberley Process was launched. The Kimberley Process is an import-export documentation scheme in which participating governments to certify the origin of rough diamonds and put in place effective controls to prevent conflict stones from entering the supply chain. Although the Kimberley Process was thought to be able to stop the flow of conflict diamonds, diamonds supporting rebel groups are still getting into the market.

The smuggling of illegal diamonds is an issue that spans across many nations and governments; it affects different areas covering from Human Rights to effects of the global economy. Innocent people have cried and pleaded for help from the local government, their nation’s government and global leaders throughout the world. Unfortunately the response from most was indifferent at best. In a war claiming thousands and thousands of lives, it makes a person wonder why governments from other countries haven’t stepped in to help these ravished countries. The United Nations Security Council did step in, but many wonder if their sanctions and embargoes have done much. With the adoption of the Kimberley process many hoped that this would end the trade of illegal diamonds, though it has helped, corruption with government officials who have helped to initiate the Kimberley process continues to aid the trade of conflict diamonds. Only when the ethics and morals of people enforcing that process change will the end of conflict diamonds come. Until then African countries will continue to war-ridden with little help from outside countries mainly because of their interest in the diamond market. A sad thing when the worth of one diamond outweighs a human life.

Diamond Cutter on Conflict Diamonds