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Human rights groups say Kimberley Process failing

June 22, 2009

Windhoek, Namibia--Just ahead of a key meeting of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in Namibia, a coalition of organizations has released a laundry list of criticisms about the process.

In a press release issued on Friday and signed by seven groups from around the globe, the groups state that despite having all the tools in place, the KPCS was "failing to address effectively issues of non-compliance, smuggling, money laundering and human rights abuses in the world's alluvial diamond fields."

Two of the countries cited as trouble spots in the release were Zimbabwe, where there is "clear evidence" of government-led human rights abuses in diamond-mining areas, and Venezuela, which has not halted its diamond trade despite promising to do so until new control systems could be established.

"The clock is running out on Kimberley Process credibility," Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness stated in the release. "The work it was set up to do is vital--it would be scandalous if uncooperative governments and industry succeeded in hobbling it into ineffectiveness."

In the release, the groups are repeating calls for the KPCS to address human rights, improve its monitoring and ensure that statistics regarding the purchase, use and sale of rough diamonds by the world's diamond cutting and polishing centers are incorporated into its internal control mechanism.

The groups signing on to the release were the Centre du Commerce International pour le Developpement (CECIDE) of Conakry, Guinea; Fatal Transactions based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; London-based Global Witness; Green Advocates of Monrovia, Liberia; Groupe de Recherche et de Plaidoyer sur les Industries Extractives (GRPIE) from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivorie; Network Movement for Justice and Development from Freetown, Sierra Leone; and Ottawa-based Partnership Africa Canada.

An initiative of governments, the industry and civil organizations, the Kimberley Process was launched with the goal of stemming the flow of conflict diamonds into the jewelry trade.

Its 6th inter-sessional meeting is scheduled for June 23-25 in Windhoek, Namibia.
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