Under this Kimberley Agreement, diamond producing and trading countries have to establish national control systems to stop blood diamonds from entering the legitimate diamond trade. The system was supposed to come into full force on 1st February 2003. However, important diamond producing and trading countries like Russia, Switzerland, Botswana, Angola, and the United States have not been able to get the system in place in time. In due course, this would exclude these countries from the international diamond trade. Reason enough for the EU to postpone the implementation within its borders. According to the Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs, implementation of the Kimberley Process at this moment would mean that at least 50% of the European diamond trade would grind to a halt since hardly any diamond would enter.
‘We are seriously disappointed’, says Judith Sargentini, International co-ordinator of the Fatal Transactions campaign. ‘It is truly unbelievable that countries that pledged commitment to the struggle against blood diamonds last November, now keep us waiting till the cows come home’.
EU Member states now push for a meeting of Kimberley participants on short notice, to decide upon further steps. We can only hope that this will result in concrete action. Lack of commitment to the Kimberley Process will be a betrayal of the trust placed in the process, not only by NGOs, but also by the civilians of Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
