The diamond industry is to begin using a monitoring system in the new year that will trace diamonds from their point of origin.
Companies in the sector, including De Beers, have developed the certification system over the past two years in an attempt to end the trade in stones from conflict areas.
But they have been waiting for the world’s main diamond producing and trading countries to agree a protocol that will enable the certificates to be issued across the globe.
Last month that agreement – known as the Kimberley Process – was signed by 45 governments at a summit in Interlaken, Switzerland.
The protocol says that from 1 January 2003, signatory countries will only allow imports of diamonds with an industry certificate of origin guaranteeing they are not from conflict zones such as Angola and Sierra Leone.
Countries that have not signed the agreement, including Gambia, Rwanda and Uganda, will have all their diamond imports and exports blocked.
Eight non-governmental organizations, including Action Aid, Amnesty International and Global Witness, have cautiously welcomed the development.
But the group says there are worries about a lack of independent monitoring and transparency when certificates are issued, and that overall the industry’s system will not be open to public scrutiny.
‘We are deeply concerned that there is still no system for regular, independent monitoring of all national diamond control systems,’ they said. ‘Without this, the overall process remains open to abuse.’
Global Witness claimed the companies had ‘failed to come up with a detailed audit process’ that could guarantee stones were not coming from conflict zones.
However, Eli Izhakoff, chairman and chief executive of the industry’s trade body, the World Diamond Council, said the measures would be ‘comprehensive’ – and that while diamond companies were prepared to review the system at a later date, they wanted the work to begin as soon as possible. ‘Now is the time to move forward, and all concerned parties should be doing everything possible to make the measures already agreed upon a reality,’ he said. ‘Experience will allow participants to detect – and remedy – any flaws that may exist.’
Izhakoff said that although conflict diamonds make up less than four per cent of the world’s supply, it was in the companies’ interests to make the system work. ‘Consumer confidence is the most essential asset of our industry and we are determined to maintain that confidence,’ he said.
Some non-governmental organizations claim conflict diamonds make up 20 per cent of global supply, and that their illicit sale on the world markets is fuelling wars and oppressive regimes in Africa – particularly in Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.