Kimberley Process Certification Scheme
The Kimberley Process is a government, international diamond industry and civil joint initiative which has been introduced to stem the flow of blood or conflict diamonds which are being used by rebels to finance wars. Sales of these illicit stones have contributed to devastating wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone.
It was introduced during a meeting of South African diamond producing states in Kimberley in May 2000. In December of the same year the UN passed a resolution supporting the creation of a scheme certificating diamonds which were not being sold to finance war.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was finally introduced in November 2002 after obtaining final endorsement from De Beers and the World Diamond Council who are the main players involved in the diamond trade.
It is a voluntary system which imposes exhaustive requirements on participating countries to ensure and certify that conflict diamonds are not entering the mainstream rough diamond market. The 45 Participants in the Kimberley Process account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds.
To become a Participant in the KPCS a country must ensure that any diamond originating there does not finance any scheme designed to overthrow a UN recognized government. It does this by issuing a Kimberley Process Certificate and prohibits the diamond being exported from or exported to a non member of the scheme .
The system is closely monitored and in July 2001 the Congo was removed as a Participant because it was unable to prove the origin of its diamonds. This is a serious punishment as it disallows trade with almost all of the rest of the world.
