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The World Diamond Congress At the first meeting of the WFDB, which was held in Antwerp in July 1947, it was decided to develop a worldwide network of diamond clubs, with bi-annual meetings. A "World Diamond Congress" is held every 2 years, at which delegates from affiliated bourses meet to discuss issues facing the industry; diamantaires having a long tradition of cooperating with one another (within the framework of the Bourse), although they daily compete with one another (both on their domestic and on the global markets). The 29th Diamond Congress, sponsored by the World Federation of Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, was held in Antwerp, Belgium, from July 16th to the 19th, 2000. More than 300 diamantaires participated, together with representatives from the diamond producing countries, mining companies, professional organizations, banks, governments, and De Beers. Concurrent with the Congress, there were two exhibitions organized by the Antwerp Diamond Museum:"500 Years Antwerp World Diamond Center" and "Fancy Cut Diamonds". Speakers at the congress included the Canadian Ambassador to the UN, Robert Fowler; the Belgian Foreign Minister, Louis Michel; Britain's junior Foreign Minister, Peter Hain; and, Gary Ralfe, the Managing Director of De Beers. Conflict Diamonds The subject of Conflict Diamonds dominated discussions at the World Diamond Congress: The issue of conflict diamonds included discussions on the global measures needed to be taken to remedy the situation. A resolution, calling for an international certification and monitoring system to control the import/export of rough diamonds, was proposed; however, the delegates, in turn, called on governments to enact legislation at the source of the problem in the actual countries involved. Although some producing countries felt threatened by the idea (vis-a-vis inconsistent import/production statistics); others were concerned about the "paperwork" involved with the new regulations; and a representative of Alrosa voiced concern that some of the regulations could possibly interfere with Russia's "internal affairs", the resolution was endorsed by the delegates. The WFDB/IDMA resolution will try to monitor the rough trade by requiring diamond producing countries to seal all rough parcels prior to exporting the rough to one of the diamond cutting/trading centers (ie. Antwerp, Israel, India, or New York). It will have to be seen whether or not the proposed restrictions will prove to be effective in preventing the "illegal trade in diamonds from the conflict areas". Coverage in the world press and articles from the top news sources can be found at www.diamondnews.com CNN covered the subject on its website:
See ' www.professionaljeweler.com/archives/news/2000/071800story.html' Earlier articles (July 3, 2000) of interest about the problem, and background information on various aspects of the situation can be found at:
So much has transpired since the World Diamond Congress. Much of the information can be found as links on the home page of www.diamond-key.com London Intergovernmental Conference - October 2000 Hosted by the British Foreign Office Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain London - 25-26 October 2000 Peter Hain: "The meeting succeeded in broadening international consensus to act on conflict diamonds and built wider support for the South African-led Kimberley Process and the Pretoria Joint-Ministerial statement of 21 September." The following countries attended the conference: Armenia, Angola, Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Germany, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lesotho, Liberia, Namibia, The Netherlands, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Venezuela. The European Commission and World Diamond Council were also represented. World Diamond Council members: Eli Izhakoff, Matthew A. Runci, William E. Boyajian, Peter Meeus and Zvi Shur. The objective of the meeting was "to build on the momentum of the South Africa-led Kimberley process by sensitising a wider range of key states to the problem of conflict diamonds". The Clean Diamonds Act - S1084, was the first bill introduced in the House of Representatives, and was co-sponsored by Representatives Tony Hall (D-OH), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Cynthia McKinney (D-GA). The bill "prohibits the importation of diamonds unless the countries exporting the diamonds have in place a system of controls on rough diamonds." Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Mike DeWine (R-OH) introduced a new conflict diamond bill, on June 21st, 2001 in the United States Senate. In an article on www.professionaljeweler, [professionaljeweler.com/archives/news/2001/062001story2.html], Robert Weldon, G.G. explained that "U.S. Rep. Tony Hall (D-OH) is said to have given the new bill his blessing. Human rights groups also pledged to support the bill, and Jewelers of America and the World Diamond Council announced they will back it too." Weldon also referred to "behind-the-scenes negotiations" which led to a number of compromises including one that means that "diamonds would no longer be characterized as the principle source of problems in Africa". A companion bill was then introduced into the House of Representatives. On August 2, 2001, a new bill was introduced to the House of Representatives. This bill H.R. 2722is a companion bill to The Clean Diamonds Act S. 1084which was the legislation introduced in the Senate on June 21, 2001. Both measures should simplify the process for a conference committee to combine the bills if they pass in their respective chambers of the Congress. A bipartisan bill, it received the endorsement of the JA and the World Diamond Council. Non-government organizations (NGOs) that endorsed the measures included the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights, Oxfam America, World Vision, and World Relief. H.R. 2722 supports the Kimberley Process, which is an international effort to establish a global certification system to end the trade of conflict diamonds. H.R. 2722 was introduced by four U.S. representatives: Amy Houghton (R-N.Y.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Tony Hall (D-Ohio) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.). It was cosponsored by 35members of the House of Representatives. On August 8, 2001, JCK Senior Editor, Anthony DeMarco, reported that the U.S. House of Representatives introduced legislation, The Clean Diamonds Trade Act, HR 2722, which includes most of the provisions of its Senate companion bill, S1084. Necessary to simplify the conference committee process after the individual bills pass their respective chambers, all of the provisions of the bill, HR 2722, fall "within the jurisdiction of the Ways & Means Committee". Tony Hall, who expects the remaining provisions of S 1084 to be included in the bill before final passage, said that the companion bill should "hasten its prospects for a vote before the House of Representatives". Hall also said that he was pleased that the Clean Diamonds Trade Act had the support of members of the diamond industry. Practically speaking, it may take some time for the bills to go through the congressional processes, but the subject is definitely not going to go away. Representative Hall is scheduled to be the Keynote Speaker at The 2nd Annual World Diamond Conference in Vancouver, Canada, August 22-23, 2001. His presentation is: "Conflict Diamonds: The Next Step". The National Press Club hosted a panel discussion, in Washington D.C., on June 22, 2001 examining the conflict diamond question. These and other topics were discussed during the hour and a half panel discussion which was very interesting. Is it possible to establish an international certification system that will put an end to the trade in conflict diamonds? How will the international diamond market be impacted by the "Clean Diamond Act"? What controls does the industry have in place to separate the legitimate diamond industry from the trade of illicit stones? What is happening in countries such as Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo? Marvin Kalb, of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center for the Press, Politics and Public Policy, moderated. Panelists included: Representative Tony Hall (D-OH), co-sponsor the "Clean Diamond Act" and Steve Coll, managing editor of the Washington Post, who discussed what it was like to cover the story in Sierra Leone. www.press.org Kimberly Process The following report is from "Diamond Intelligence Brief" which can be found at www.diamondintelligence.com. On July 26th, Chaim Even-Zohar reported that, at the meetings held in Moscow in July 2001, the 34 nations that represented diamond producing, processing and consuming countries, agreed, in principle (although a number of details still needed to be worked out), to a certification system to control the flow of rough diamonds in the international market place. The Moscow meeting sought to define the minimum acceptable standards for an international system of certification of rough diamonds, consistent with the mandate set out in the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 of December 1, 2000. Diamond Intelligence Brief July 26, 2001: Though indeed remarkable progress was made, it also surfaced that the architects of the future worldwide certification regime were not unified on the essence of their mission:
"The governments of the producing countries don't want to be seen as the only level in the pipeline where certificates are demanded. They want to 'share' the responsibility of certifying with the cutting and trading centers," observed one participant. So instead of focusing on origin certificates, a concept of "conflict free" certificates (also known as a "certificate of legitimacy")was discussed. Bascially, this is what De Beers does in its declarations on its invoices. It says that its diamonds are from mixed origins from a number of countries and that no conflict diamonds are in the parcels. A consensus seems to be emerging that rough diamonds exported from an African source country can have either a "certificate of origin" or a "certificate of legitimacy", or maybe both. Why this duplication? Take South Africa as an example:
The meeting also dealt with the issue of sovereignty. The Russians, for example, made it clear that they will fully cooperate in showing and explaining how their system of internal controls is being administered. However, they will not allow independent third party monitoring of their system. Sovereignty is a touchy matter for many a government. No binding final decisions were taken at the Moscow meeting. Kimberly Process - Diamond Intelligence Brief We believe that the Kimberley Process is doing a tremendous job:
It may be useful to recall that the issue is really the conduct of foreign policy of the United States, of the United Nations and some other western powers. Economic sanctions have become, what Brookings Institution Director of Foreign Policy Studies Richard N. Haas calls "the policy tool of choice for the United States in the post-Cold War world." The United States, and to a lesser extent the UN and European Union, have targeted some 40 countries against which it has imposed economic sanctions in the 1993-2000 period. The sanctions, including the sanctions against the conflict diamond regions, aim at states or other political entities to alter political and/or military behavior. Economic sanctions are used for many reasons:
Do we really believe that the embargo on diamonds from UNITA, Liberia, parts of Sierra Leone, parts of the DRC, and some of their trading partners will actually lead to the cessation of cruel brutalities, indescribable atrocities, human suffering, by somehow triggering the end of conflict? If the UN, the US, the western powers indeed were determined to stop these wars, they surely have the means to do so. They simply lack the will, or prefer economic sanctionsover other actions - and one can sympathize with that view. The Kimberley Process is inadvertently and unwittingly creating a system in which bureaucrats are king and, because of these awesome powers bestowed upon them, some of these bureaucrats may also become as rich as kings. We find it hard to swallow that those countries from which "questionable" diamonds are presently officially exported - even when their representatives were in Moscow - will suddenly cease to certify these diamonds for exports. It is difficult to predict and appreciate the consequences of imposing the responsibility for issuing the "certificates of legitimacy" on governments, some of which enjoy neither good governance nor can claim having corruption-free institutions. The integrity and sincerity of all the Kimberley Process architects is beyond question; doubts only linger around the ability of some government bodies to effectively implement the certification scheme:
World Diamond Council Source : WDC - Newsletter April 2001 www.worlddiamondcouncil.com At the World Diamond Congress, Antwerp - August 17 through August 19, 2000. The general assemblies of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association resolved to set up an umbrella body, called the World Diamond Council (WDC), to coordinate the campaign against rough diamonds being sold in order "to finance civil wars against legitimate government in Africa". WDC - September 2000 - April 2001 September 2000 The first meeting, convened in Tel Aviv, was attended by 41 industry leaders, bankers and government officials representing 13 countries. An infrastructure for the organization was created, and strategic goals for the development of legislation and a tracking system were set. The following Officers were elected to serve with WDC chairman, Eli Izhakoff: Abraham Fischler, vice chairman; Sean Cohen, vice chairman; Sergei A. Oulin, vice chairman; Shmuel Schnitzer, vice chairman; Matthew A. Runci, executive director; Stephane Fischler, secretary; William E. Boyajian, treasurer, and Cecilia L. Gardner, general counsel. The following committees were established and the chairmen named: Steering, Eli Izhakoff; Technical, William E. Boyajian; Finance, Peter K. Gross; Banking, Paul Goris; U.S. Legislative, Matthew A. Runci; Legal, Patrick B. Dorsey; Information and Research, Michael J. Kowalski; Producers, Louis Nchindo; International Government and United Nations Liaison, Eli Izhakoff; Membership, Sean Cohen; Government Observers On September 14, WDC members spoke before the U.S. Congress' House Ways and Means Committee's subcommittee on Trade on the following topics: William E. Boyajian on the "Feasibility of Determining the Country of Origin of Gem Diamonds"; Jeffery H. Fischer, on the "Diamond Pipeline"; and MatthewA. Runci the "Trade in African Diamonds". October 2000 WDC was incorporated as a non-profit entity in the U.S. state of Delaware as World Diamond Council Assn. With unanimous consent from the WDC officers, the Legal Committee retained the firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. The Technical Committee submitted a working document for presentation at the London Intergovernmental Conference and to the United Nations. The document can also be found at www.worlddiamondcouncil.com December 2000 WDC representatives, Eli Izhakoff, Sean Cohen, Cecilia L. Gardner and Matthew A. Runci, were present at the UN General Assembly for the debate and passage of Resolution A/55/L.52. January 2001 Eli Izhakoff, Sean Cohen, Matthew A. Runci, William E. Boyajian, Robert Bridel, and Jeffrey H. Fischer attended The White House Conference: Technologies for Identification and Certification, in Washington, D.C. De Beers hosted a WDC members meeting and international conference in London. Delegates representing the governments of producing nations, non-governmental organizations, and the trade and general press were also in attendance. February 2001 The WDC was invited to attend the mid-February government conference in Namibia. April 2001 London meeting from April 10 to 12 - preliminary reports and analyses from the Belgian and Canadian governments regarding responses to the questionnaire from the various countries. Brussels meeting from April 24 to 27 in Belgium WDC- A System for Rough Diamond Export and Import Controls Summary proposed by the WDC Technical Committee : Diamonds imported into any country must originate from countries that implement strict rough diamond export and import controls. Rough diamond regulations include the following: Rough Diamond Export Controls
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