EC urged to extend regulations on blood diamonds

Strict regulations aimed at erasing trade in conflict diamonds should be extended to include the activities of European Commission (EC) nationals and companies operating outside EC territory, international lobby group Global Witness has argued. The NGO called on the European Commission (EC) and its 15 member states to adopt tough regulations to combat illicit trade in 'blood' diamonds which have fuelled conflicts. "The regulation must include the concept of extra-territoriality and must not contain any sunset provisions. Global Witness believes a strong message must be sent out to conflict and illicit diamond traders that their ways of doing business are over and that their illegal business practices in non-EC member countries will no longer be tolerated," a Global Witness statement said. The EC and its member states were in the process of finalising a regulation to implement the Kimberley Process - an international diamond certification scheme. "Fifty-two governments, including the European Union, have agreed to participate in the Kimberley Process and most of these countries will implement diamond control systems on 1 January 2003. The [EC] regulation, which will be finalised over the next few weeks, will establish the import/export control system to stop conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond trade," the lobby group said. However, Global Witness said it understood that certain countries were trying to have extra-territoriality removed from the regulation. Global Witness pointed to the recent UN Expert Panel's report on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which "devastatingly exposed how diamond traders, including Belgian and British diamond individuals, continued to engage in conflict diamond dealing in the DRC and elsewhere". "It is incredibly irresponsible for governments to be opposing extra-territoriality, given the role that European companies and individuals have played in conflict diamond trading, all member states should be supporting it," Corinna Gilfillan, a Global Witness campaigner was quoted as saying. Sunset provision in the regulation would stipulate that the regulation would end if the participants of the Kimberley Process decided there was no longer a need for a certification scheme. This was not feasible as "it will be crucial to have a permanent certification scheme in place to effectively prevent diamonds from funding conflict and terrorism", the lobby group said.