Diamonds Are the Heart of the Matter.

• Author: Rutsch, Horst

International Community Takes a Close Look at Conflict Diamonds

Momentum has been gathering worldwide to globally ban all trade in conflict diamonds. Earlier this year, groundbreaking reports made clear to what extent diamonds--and other "lootable" natural resources--fuel armed conflicts in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. In these war-torn countries, rebel movements, such as the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as well as a number of neighbouring State actors, have been profiting from the breakdown of government control over the lucrative diamond areas (see UN Chronicle, issue 2, 2000). Since then, the international community's response to the problem has been remarkably swift and unequivocal. Several Security Council resolutions, as well as agreements reached at international conferences, have called for the establishment of a global certification regime for diamonds (see time-line on page 67).

A key event was the Council's first-ever public hearing on the role of diamonds in the Sierra Leonean conflict, held on 31 July and 1 August. The two-day exploratory hearing, chaired by Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Chairman of the Sanctions Committee on Sierra Leone, was unique in that presentations were made by representatives of interested States, international and regional organizations, civil society, the diamond industry and independent experts (see Interview, next page). During the hearing, which also focused on the link between the illicit diamond trade and the trade in arms, the United States and the United Kingdom openly accused Burkina Faso and Liberia of supporting the rebels by trading arms for diamonds--both countries vehemently denied the allegations. Further discussed was the development of a sustainable and well-regulated diamond industry, and the Government of Sierra Leone unveiled its diamond certification regime, developed with international assistance. With Council ap proval, the Government on 12 October resumed export of the country's diamonds, which had been suspended since 5 July, following the Council's ban on all imports of uncertified diamonds from Sierra Leone.

Perhaps the important fact that emerged from the Council's hearing, revealing the "complexity and magnitude" of the problem, was that the international community expressed its readiness to participate in a UN-mandated global certification regime. On 21 September, at a high-level meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, Ministers from 20 countries and representatives from the diamond trade agreed to an international certification scheme, the so-called Kimberley process initiative, to trace the origins of all diamonds entering the global market. On 26 October, following a two-day conference on conflict diamonds in London, representatives from 36 Governments agreed to create a worldwide certification plan for diamond exports. Some countries, however, have been pressing further for a United Nations treaty to establish international law regulating the global diamond trade. The various proposals will be forwarded to...