Diamonds and Human Security
What Partnership Africa Canada is Doing
With its civil society partners, PAC’s vision for the diamond supply chain is one in which the diamond sector is responsibly managed by governments, industry and local communities so as to strengthen and support human security, human development, community development and national economic development.
To achieve this vision, PAC takes a multi-faceted approach to governance, recognizing that institutions for accountability need to be built at the local, national, regional and international levels, and that a multiplicity of actors need to be involved in the design, development and implementation of these institutions.
This multi-faceted approach is based on the idea that contemporary efforts to manage global supply chains in pursuit of socially responsible objectives cannot depend on any one type of governance system, or any one type of governance actor. Instead, efforts to achieve sustainable development outcomes in supply chains should tap into multiple, intertwining governance mechanisms.
Accordingly, PAC works on designing and improving governance through:
- Inter-state agreements (e.g. the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme).
- National action (e.g. training customs officials to tackle diamond smuggling).
- Community projects (e.g. supporting civil society to analyze how diamond revenues are distributed).
- Private-sector activities (e.g. advocating for industry to develop more robust ‘non-state market driven mechanisms', such as the World Diamond Council system of warranties or the Responsible Jewelry Council’s Chain of Custody initiative.
Strengthening the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS): Improving Transparency
As one of the most pivotal multi-stakeholder platforms for talking about the diamond supply chain, PAC and its partners invest substantial resources into monitoring the implementation of the KPCS and identifying ways to strengthen this global governance tool. In June 2010, for example, PAC worked with its partners to organize a workshop on KP Reform that identified a number of key reforms that would make the KPCS a more robust and credible regulatory mechanism, including improved transparency with respect to KPCS implementation and decision-making.
Since its inception in 2003, the KPCS has shared a very limited amount of information with the general public about its operations due to the decision by KPCS Participants to make the vast majority of KPCS documents confidential. This has made it difficult for external observers to assess whether the KPCS is effectively contributing to efforts to ensure diamonds are not linked with conflict. Since its inception, the KPCS Civil Society Coalition and the World Diamond Council have consistently called for increased transparency on the part of the KPCS. In November 2010, those calls were answered through the leadership of Partnership Africa Canada and Global Witness, which both sit on the KPCS Committee on Rules and Procedures (CRP) representing the KPCS Civil Society Coalition.
Working with supportive KPCS governments (e.g. the European Union, Canada, the United States, Switzerland and the Russian Federation) PAC and GW drafted an ‘Administrative Decision on Confidentiality’ that reverses the onus of confidentiality, making all final KPCS documents public unless a government specifically requests that a section of the document remain confidential. In November 2010, at the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme Plenary meeting in Jerusalem, this draft Administrative Decision was passed by consensus. PAC is now pleased to begin sharing KPCS documents,such as this analysis of US KPCS statistical data and the final report from the 2011 KPCS Peer Review Visit to Botswana.
1. US KPCS Statistical Analysis
The United States recently invited PAC to conduct an analysis of the import/export statistics compiled by the US Kimberley Process Authority. This report is part of a broader analysis of the US KPCS implementation system that PAC is doing as part of its analysis of the role of diamond importing countries in tackling conflict diamonds.
The United States posts all its KPCS related documents on the web-site of the US State Department: http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/diamonds/.
2. Government of Botswana: Report of the 2011 KPCS Review Visit
In February 2011, Botswana hosted a KPCS Review Team to conduct a multi-stakeholder assessment of its systems for implementing the KPCS. The Government of Botswana has approved publication of the final report prepared by the Review Team.
Diamonds Without Borders: Tackling the Illicit Trade of Rough Diamonds
Where rough diamonds can be smuggled, the opportunity for conflict diamonds to re-emerge exists. During its tenure as Chair of the KPCS in 2010, Israel identified the importance of improving enforcement against rough diamond smuggling and strengthening cooperation between KPCS Focal Points and enforcement agencies such as the World Customs Organization. This led to the creation of a formal partnership between the WCO and the KPCS.
In support of these efforts, and in support of the efforts by the Government of Côte d'Ivoire to stop the flow of conflict diamonds out of their country and into international markets, the United States funded a series of workshops on diamond smuggling in West Africa. The KPCS Civil Society Coalition organized national multi-stakeholder dialogues in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire to identify ways in which diamond smuggling could be tackled. The United States, Israel and Canada then funded a special seminar on diamond smuggling and the Kimberley Process that took place in Tel Aviv in June 2010.
A report on all of these discussions was produced and disseminated at the KP Plenary meeting in Jerusalem November 1-4. On December 10, 2010 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution noting with appreciation the Enforcement Seminar and the final report.
A recurring theme that emerged from these discussions was the importance of rough diamond-importing countries strengthening their efforts to disrupt the illicit trade. To further discuss the responsibilities of diamond-importing countries in keeping illicity (and conflict) diamonds out of their diamond sectors, the 2011 KPCS Chair (Mr. Matthieu Yamba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) asked PAC to organize a one day workshop at the conclusion of the June 2011 KPCS Intersessional in Kinshasa.
This workshop, which was funded by the United States, was attended by more than fifty people. Participants discussed:
a) How conflict/illicit rough diamonds are entering the legal diamond supply chain (methodologies, routes, scenarios, profiles).
b) Tactics through which the trade in conflict/illicit rough diamonds are currently being disrupted by enforcement agencies (and assessments of the effectiveness of these efforts).
c) Ideas on how the illegal trade in diamonds could be more effectively disrupted.
How PAC became involved with the diamond sector
PAC became involved in the conflict diamond issue in 1999 out of concern about the lack of international interest in Sierra Leone's horrific conflict. When we asked ourselves how such a terrible war could have been sustained for so long, our attention soon turned to diamonds.
In January 2000, PAC published "The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds and Human Security," which received widespread attention in the media. It provided the first "logical" explanation for the war and its duration, and helped bring badly needed international attention to Sierra Leone. A UN Sanctions Committee on Angola later released a report on the connection between diamonds and weapons that confirmed what PAC had said about the diamond industry at large, and the particular role of the industry's main trading centre, Antwerp.
During 2000 PAC began to engage with the diamond industry, participating in the Antwerp World Diamond Congress and the first meeting, convened by South Africa, of what eventually became the Kimberley Process. Ian Smillie, PAC's Research Coordinator, also took a leave of absence to participate in the second United Nations Security Council Expert Panel, examining the connection between weapons and diamonds in West Africa.
Since then, through its "Diamonds and Human Security Project", PAC has carried out an extensive programme of investigative and policy research, public education and advocacy on conflict diamonds and the developmental potential of diamonds. Through its programmes, PAC engages the diamond industry, governments and civil society in Africa and elsewhere in discussion and action that will ensure greater development impact from diamonds, especially in countries emerging from conflict and so that diamonds become an asset for, rather than a detriment to peaceful, long-term development. Two PAC researchers have been awarded the prestigious Canadian Policy Research Award, and in 2002 PAC was co-nominated by an American Senator and two Congressmen for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. PAC’s publications related to diamonds include:
- A series of diamond industry Annual Reviews - a “watching brief” published since 2004 on the three countries most affected by conflict diamonds: Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola, and done in collaboration with the participation of civil society organizations in those countries. In 2008, a new format was chosen for the Annual Review to cover ten additional countries in Africa and South America besides the three core countries, in addition to a critical review of Kimberley Process implementation.
- The Occasional Papers series highlights - in depth studies on important and major problems with the diamond industry in KP participating countries and that impact the good functioning and reputation of the Kimberley Process. These include a paper on Liberian diamond sanctions in June 2004 which was used by members of the UN Security Council, two papers on Brazil that revealed massive fraud in its diamond industry, resulting in a complete shutdown of Brazilian diamond exports for more than six months in 2006, and a complete restructuring of the country's control systems. A report in 2006 showed that 100% of Venezuela's diamond production is non-compliant with KPCS standards and is essentially being smuggled out of the country, and Venezuela has since withdrawn from the Kimberley Process in order to sort out its difficulties. A report on the study "Rich Man, Poor Man – Development Diamonds and Poverty Diamonds: The Potential for Change in the Artisanal Alluvial Diamond Fields of Africa," led to the creation of the Diamond Development Initiative.
- The quarterly newsletter, "Other Facets" – a unique publication that monitors the Kimberley Process.
The Kimberley Process and Support to African Civil Society
PAC was directly involved in all of the Kimberley Process negotiating meetings between 2000 and 2002, and has participated in every Kimberley Process meeting since the official launch of the KPCS in 2003. PAC participates in KP working groups on statistics, rules and procedures, monitoring and membership, and we have been part of reviews of more than 15 participating countries.
PAC's research and policy dialogue within the KP has helped the KP remain strong and provides a measure of confidence to the public with respect to the diamond trade. The Kimberley Process is backed by a peer review process that involves government, industry and civil society. Over the years, PAC has organized training programmes for NGOs in Antwerp on diamond monitoring, provided financial assistance to African civil society organizations for their work on diamonds and KPCS implementation, and sponsored NGO representation in monitoring missions. Funding for the participation of southern civil society organizations, in KPCS activities, has been received from the Governments of Belgium, Switzerland, the United States and Norway as well as from Rio Tinto. African civil society organizations play a key role in the functioning of the KPCS at both local and international levels. As one of the two official Observers within the KP, the KPCS Civil Society Coalition now includes representation from Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, DRC, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Guinea.
