POLITICAL SCIENCE

Kimberley Process

Kimberley Process

Introduction

In May 2000, the South African government hosted a meeting on the problem of conflict diamonds--gemstones used to fund violent strife in unstable regions. The meeting was attended by representatives from major diamond producing and trading countries, the private diamond industry and concerned non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The various parties discussed ways in which the global trade of rough (unpolished and uncut) diamonds could be more closely monitored in order to stem the flow of conflict diamonds, particularly from Africa. The United Nations did not directly sponsor the talks, but passed a resolution in December 2000 supporting the creation of a formal method to monitor rough diamond trading. Negotiations on the issue lasted until November 2002, when the parties reached agreement on a monitoring plan called the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (commonly referred to as either the KPCS or simply the "Kimberley Process"). The Kimberley Process was not considered a legally binding treaty; instead, its participants voluntarily agreed to implement a common set of standards for tracking rough diamond imports and exports (Delaney, 2009).

Each member country was left to pass its own legislation to enforce those standards. For example, the U.S. brought its diamond trading policies in line with the Clean Diamond Trade Act, which was signed by President Bush (R) in April 2003. Participation in the process had grown since 2002, and currently there are more than 70 member countries representing all six populated continents. The process requires that all exported shipments of rough diamonds be accompanied by official Kimberley Process certificates. The certificates are issued by the governments of participating countries, and intended to guarantee that diamond shipments originate from non-conflict sources instead of rogue armed factions. All members of the Kimberley Process are supposed to avoid trading uncertified diamonds--which are regarded as potential conflict diamonds--and refrain completely from trading with countries that have not signed on to the process (Land, 2002, pp. 45).

Although the Kimberley Process is a fairly loose collaboration in some respects, it does have a formal system of administration. Participants meet annually in order to assess how the process is working and discuss methods of approving its efficiency. At those meetings, a member country is selected to serve as the Chair of the Kimberley Process--a rotating position with a one-year term. The Chair's duties include record-keeping, running the process's official Web site and convening further meetings as needed. The Kimberley Process also employs several working groups which oversee tasks such as monitoring the implementation of trading standards, tracking rough diamond production statistics and evaluating new applications for membership in the process. The process also involves a system of peer reviews and periodic inspections, which assess whether member countries are meeting the minimum required standards for rough diamond monitoring. Members found in violation of those standards face expulsion, but they can potentially be re-admitted to the process later if their status improves. For example, the Central Africa Republic (CAR) was expelled after suffering from a destabilizing political coup in March 2003, but subsequently allowed ...