PRESS RELEASE
25TH OCTOBER 2002
World Diamond Cop-Out:
NGOs Call on the Diamond Industry to Clean Up Its Act
As the World Diamond Congress (WDC) meets in London on 27-29 October
2002, ActionAid, Amnesty International and Global Witness will be
there with a strong message for the diamond industry: the time for
talking is over. The diamond industry must act now to eliminate the
international trade in conflict diamonds. The NGO coalition will be at
the WDC meeting to draw delegate’s attention to the fact that there
are only 66 days before governments launch the Kimberley Process, an
international control system for diamonds.
“20% of the diamonds sold worldwide are illicitly traded. Some of
these diamonds are used to buy weapons for rebel groups in Africa, as
well as financing conflicts. And yet diamond traders have failed to
act,” said Alex Yearsley of Global Witness.
The diamond industry has repeatedly committed itself to
self-regulation as part of the Kimberley Process, an international
government agreement to stem the trade in conflict diamonds through an
international diamond certification and verification system for rough
diamonds to be launched on 1st January 2003. Accordingly, forty-five
diamond producing, trading and marketing countries, including the
European Union (EU), will establish new legislation and regulations.
However, the monitoring of the system is entirely voluntary, and the
diamond industry has so far refused to make public the details of the
system of self-regulation that it proposes to introduce as part of the
Kimberley Process.
Abraham Fischler, the President of the World Federation of Diamond
Bourses (WFDB), whose members will be present at the WDC meeting in
London, recently declared with regards to conflict diamonds: “I do not
believe that the world has any right to point a finger in our
direction again…For too long, we have allowed ourselves to be
sidetracked by extraneous political issues.”
“How can 3,000 amputees in Sierra Leone and the conflicts in Angola,
DRC and Liberia be described as ‘an extraneous political issue’? The
diamond industry is conducting a PR sham to show how responsible it is
when at the same time it is dealing in conflict and illicit diamonds,”
said Yearsley.
A recent United Nations report on the Democratic Republic of Congo
presented to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, confirmed
the continued role of diamonds in funding conflicts and human rights
abuses. It condemns the diamond industry and devastatingly exposes how
diamonds are still being used to pay for weapons.
“The UN’s dramatic expose of rampant conflict diamond dealing, shows
that public statements made by the diamond industry over the last two
years have been nothing but a PR smokescreen designed to confuse
governments. Governments should be left with no option but to
legislate against these reckless diamond traders,” said Amboka Wameyo
of ActionAid.
The NGO coalition calls on the industry to “clean up its act” and to
take concrete action at all levels of the industry by:
* Immediately publishing and implementing the details of the industry
system of self-regulation;
* Implementing credible and independent monitoring of the industry
system of self-regulation as agreed by the WDC in Milan, Italy, in
March 2002;
* Developing a rigorous system of penalties to be applied to those who
continue to trade in diamonds outside this
scheme;
* Creating an intensive programme of education within the diamond
industry to ensure compliance with all of the above.
Contacts: Alex Yearsley, Global Witness – +44 (0) 7968 799 815, +44
(0)20 7272 6731 Andy Bliss, Amnesty International – +44(0) 7986
545483, +44(0) 207 413 5620
Amboka Wameyo, ActionAid – +44(0) 7753 973486, +44(0) 207 561 7614