Plan to halt blood diamonds a 'Xmas tree without lights', NGOs

Lobby groups on Wednesday welcomed a decision by the diamond industry to halt the sale of so-called blood diamonds. However, they said that without an independent monitoring system, the overall process remained open to abuse. Thirty-five countries on Tuesday signed the "Kimberley Process certification scheme", in the Swiss city of Interlaken, which aims to stem the trade in illicit gems through a diamond certification and verification system. Under the scheme, chaired by South Africa, diamond producer countries are obliged to issue certificates proving that gems come from legitimate mines. Exporting countries that fail to respect the deal would be prevented from selling diamonds and could face international sanctions. "The certification process will impact on everyone who has something to do with diamonds. The new system is probably one of the most comprehensive attempts to regulate the trade in diamonds and, hopefully, [will stem] the trade in illegal stones," a spokeswoman of South Africa's minerals and energy department, Prudence Pitsi, told IRIN. Blood diamonds have helped fuel some of the most intractable wars in Africa. Angolan diamonds were widely seen to have funded the former rebel group, UNITA's 27-year war against the government. But while NGOs agree that the system is a good one, they say it is weakened because of the failure to develop strong verification and monitoring measures. Judith Sargentini, international campaign coordinator for lobby group Fatal Transactions, said: "This is more like a Christmas tree without lights. The Kimberley Process is merely a framework to regulate the diamond trade. Without an independent audit to monitor how these certificates are issued and to whom exactly, the entire process becomes flawed. As it stands, anyone can apply to be part of the certification process, including rebels. "To what extent a certification scheme will actually be able to contain the trade in blood diamonds remains to be seen." Alex Yearsley, a researcher at Global Witness, an NGO that focuses attention on how natural resources can fuel conflict, told IRIN that although ministers at the meeting had alluded to the adoption of an independent monitoring system, "the meeting ended without a clear commitment of how such a system would work". Six countries at the meeting in Switzerland said they were not in a position to implement the scheme at this time. The certification will be officially launched on 1 January 2003. The countries which have not implemented the scheme will be excluded from the international diamond trade. Illicit diamonds are estimated to make up only about 3 percent of the annual global production of rough diamonds, which totalled US $7.8 billion last year.