Johannesburg: The Kimberley Process (KP) must “stop turning blind eye to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and take fight against conflict diamonds seriously”.

KP Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC), the umbrella organization that oversees its activities, issued a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday, accusing the KP of being “no longer fit for purpose”.
An attempt by Western nations to broaden the KP definition of conflict diamonds, to include state actors, has reportedly been thwarted by Russia.

Ukraine, the EU, the US and other member countries drafted an agenda item to include state actors in the definition, according to a Reuters news report.

It was to be debated at a forthcoming KP meeting in Botswana, but was removed after objections from Russia, Belarus, Central African Republic (CAR) and Kyrgyzstan that it was a political move, and beyond the KP’s remit.

The KP’s current definition of conflict diamonds is “rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments”.

KPCSC, the umbrella organization that acts as a KP observer on behalf of civil society, said in its statement: “The Kimberley Process (KP) being unable to even discuss whether it should continue certifying Russian diamonds as conflict-free, proves what the KP Civil Society Coalition
(CSC) has been denouncing for years, namely that the world’s conflict diamond scheme is no longer fit for purpose.”

It calls on the KP to finally agree on widening the scope of what it calls the KP’s outdated conflict diamond definition, and to suspend the Russian Federation as KP participant until it unconditionally ends its aggression against Ukraine.

Botswana’s KP chair Jacob Thamage told participants, ahead of the KP meeting that starts on 20 June, that “we find ourselves at an impasse.”