The Kimberley Process
In: World policy journal: WPJ ; a publication of the World Policy Institute, Band 30, Heft 4
ISSN: 0740-2775
Here, Hobbs discusses the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). Ratified in 2003, KPCS was designed to bring an end to the international trade in blood diamonds -- gemstones trafficked by African rebel groups to finance civil wars. Currently, 81 states are party to the agreement, including all major rough diamond producing countries. The KPCS emerged out of earlier efforts to de-fund the Angolan rebel movement UNITA, which from 1992 to 2002, waged a brutal civil war against the Angolan government. Under the KPCS agreement, member states must 'establish a system of internal controls designed to eliminate the presence of conflict diamonds from shipments of rough diamonds imported into and exported from its territory,' and 'amend or enact appropriate laws or regulations to implement and enforce the Certification Scheme and to maintain dissuasive and proportional penalties for transgressions.' KPCS enforcement relies on voluntary self-monitoring and self-policing. In theory, to obtain a Kimberley Process certificate, diamond producers are required to present evidence to a government monitoring body that their diamonds are conflict-free, while governments are expected to check that the evidence is genuine. Adapted from the source document.