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Abstract
This article examines how the international community responded to the threat posed by ‘blood’ diamonds by devising the Kimberley Process certification scheme. It describes how the scheme evolved via sanctions regimes applied by the United Nations to the diamond industry of countries such as Angola and Sierra Leone. It sets out the role played by the main actors, the merits and shortcomings of the agreement they struck, and the conclusions and lessons learned. It explains how the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, working in conjunction with HM Customs and Excise, implements the scheme in the UK. Finally it also explores briefly the potential for adapting the Kimberley Process scheme for use with other natural resources exploited illegally, such as timber.
Acknowledgements
The article is based on a paper presented at the annual conference of the British International Studies Association in Birmingham in December 2003. The author records his profound thanks to anonymous reviewers and to Anthony McDermott, Senior Research Analyst in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for their considerable help and guidance in the drafting of this article. The views expressed here are the author's and not necessarily those of Her Majesty's Government.
Notes
US Geological Survey, US Geological Survey, Reston VA: USGS, 1999.
Global Witness, ‘A Rough Trade – The Role of Companies and Governments in the Angolan Conflict’, London, Dec. 1998.
UN SC Res. 1173 (1998) and 1176 (1998), accessed at www.un.org.
UN SC Res. 1306 (2000), accessed at ibid.
UN SC Res. 1408 (2002), as revised by Res. 1521 (2002).
The full document is accessed at www.kimberleyprocess.com.
EC Regulation No. 2368/2002, 20 Dec. 2002. European Union Official Journal, L 358/28, 31 Dec. 2002.
The full document can be obtained from the World Diamond Council, the body established in July 2000 at a joint congress of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association and the World Federation of Diamond Bourses to represent he global diamond industry at the Kimberley Process negotiation; see www.worlddiamondcouncil.com.
UN GA Res. 55/56, 1 Dec. 2000.
UN GA Res. 56/263, 6 Feb. 2002 and 57/302, 15 Apr. 2003.
UN SC Res. 1459 (2203), 28 Jan. 2003.
World Diamond Council figures.
See US Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, ‘International Trade: Critical issues Remain in Deterring Conflict Diamond Trade’, GAO-02-678, Washington DC, 14 June 2002. In its report in October 2003 the UN Security Council Expert Panel on Sanctions in Liberia commented in the context of Liberia eventually joining the Kimberley Process on the need for stricter monitoring within the certification scheme.
The participants in the KPCS as of 1 February 2004 were: Angola, Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Central African Republic, China, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Congo (Republic of), Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, European Community, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Korea (Republic of), Laos (People's Republic of), Lebanon, Lesotho, Malaysia, Mauritius, Namibia, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Taiwan.
See www.europa.eu.int under Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) white paper.
See www.dfid.gov.uk/news for further details of the initiative.