The World Diamond Council (WDC), in a recent announcement reiterated its commitment to the Central African Republic (CAR) in its endeavour to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds from its territory. “The WDC supports the efforts in preventing the trade of conflict diamonds originating from CAR and stresses the collaboration of intergovernmental organisations and civil society groups to monitor the situation on the ground,” the WDC stated. “A recent Global Witness report on diamond trading in CAR similarly highlights the importance of continual cooperation from all parties involved in the trade of diamonds in the region.”
The WDC, an industry group focused on preventing conflict diamonds from entering the global supply chain and protecting the value of natural diamonds, is an important constituent of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
“Diamonds from the CAR have been slowly returning to the legitimate diamond supply chain under strict supervision of the Kimberley Process (KP) appointed Monitoring Team,” WDC noted. The Monitoring Team, including government, industry and civil society representatives, has been tasked with “upholding the strict guidelines” which were outlined a year back in order to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds.
The Team encountered instances where documentation was not in place. It has taken “swift and proper action to block shipments” that were “not meeting the established monitoring guidelines”.
“The WDC and the KP Monitoring Team recognise the challenging environment in which the CAR monitoring authorities operate but nevertheless continue to press the CAR government to increase its efforts to guarantee the traceability of the diamond supply chain within the country and prevent the proliferation of the illicit diamond trade,” WDC emphasised. “As part of this work, there are regular United Nations security updates verifying that declared green zones, or sub-prefectures in CAR where the export of diamonds has been allowed to resume, continue to remain safe and follow KP procedures.”
Acting WDC President Stephane Fischler commented: “The KP continues to become more efficient in our common ability to monitor the exchange of diamonds in CAR, thanks to the more rigorous and efficient work by the local Kimberly Process focal point. The WDC encourages continued dialogue to identify additional solutions to further strengthen our efforts, but there remains the need for the established guidelines to be strictly followed and local monitoring capacity enhanced. Diamond exports not conforming to the agreed procedures, will continue to be barred from being exported.”
News Source: gjepc.org
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and TJM Media Pvt Ltd. is not responsible for any errors in the same.
, in a recent announcement reiterated its commitment to the Central African Republic (CAR)){kind=link}