Definition of the Kimberley Process for Rough Diamonds
Okay, so if you’ve been reading our site carefully, you have probably noticed by now that we keep on mentioning the Kimberley Process for Rough Diamonds.
The Kimberley Process was first created by South Africa in 2000 in order to prevent blood diamonds from entering legitimate markets and the rest of the world. The idea was that every importer of a country that has ratified the Kimberley Process has to declare the origin of the diamonds through a certificate of origin.
The Kimberley Process imposes strict requirements on its members so that they can certify rough diamonds as conflict-free (as opposed to conflict diamonds or blood diamonds). As of 2007, the Kimberley Process has over 48 members, representing about 75 countries in the world (Europe counts as one member, thus the discrepancy between the number of members and the number of countries)to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’. As of September 2007, the KP has 48 members, representing 74 countries, with the European Community and its Member States counting as an individual participant.
Is the Kimberley Process effective?
As of 2008, The quantity of blood diamonds imported to industrialized countries has been diminished from roughly 4% to not more than 1%. On the other hand, the diamond industry will not rest until that all diamonds imported are conflict-free. That is a bit utopian, but one can only hope…
kimberley Process for Rough Diamonds
