For a very long time the diamond business was considered one of the bloodiest industries in the world. It caused various civil wars in Africa, murdered thousands if not millions of people, and left the Central African Republic in ruins.
In order to stop the massacre or at least try to reduce it, the United Nations started the Kimberley Process (KP) that imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as “conflict-free” and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade.
According to its official website, the KP has 54 participants, representing 81 countries, with the European Union and its member states counting as a single participant.
KP members account for about 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds. In 2012, the world celebrated 10 years of the existence of the organization, but the issue of blood diamonds was still prevalent.
Seven years later, members of the World Diamond Council are still pushing for the pending conclusion of the KP’s review and reform process, and the related call regarding the strengthening of the scope of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
For the rest of this column: https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/10/opinion/from-diamonds-to-oil/