GA backs KP to prevent diamonds from funding conflict
05 Dec '06
3 min read
The General Assembly passed a resolution backing the Kimberley Process (KP), a global initiative involving governments, the international diamond industry and civil society aimed at preventing so-called “conflict diamonds” from funding warfare and civil unrest.
The resolution was adopted after the 192 Member States were briefed by President Festus Gontebanye Mogae of Botswana, which holds this year's Chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme that imposes extensive requirements on participants to certify that shipments of rough diamonds are free from conflict diamonds.
“The General Assembly, recognizing that the trade in conflict diamonds continues to be a matter of serious international concern, which can be directly linked to the fuelling of armed conflict, reaffirms its strong and continuing support for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and the Kimberley Process as a whole,” it stated.
The resolution also recognized that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme can help to ensure that Security Council's resolutions containing sanctions on the trade in conflict diamonds are carried out, while helping to prevent future conflicts.
The Assembly resolution also supported a decision taken by a meeting of the Kimberley Process earlier this month calling for “stronger internal control” standards for participants in the process, who now number 47 representing 71 countries, as well as for clearer guidance on implementing effective controls from the mining to the export of diamonds.
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