UN supports certification process for non-conflict rough diamonds

A programme designed to eliminate sales of rough diamonds to finance armed conflicts, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, has received renewed support from the United Nations General Assembly.

The Assembly approved without a vote yesterday a resolution repeating the aim of "breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflicts."

The Kimberley certificates could ensure the implementation of Security Council resolutions containing embargoes against the trade in conflict diamonds, the Assembly said.

Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the Permanent Representative of diamond-producing South Africa, noted that his country had handed over the chairmanship of the Kimberley Process to Canada, also a major diamond-producing country, at the end of last year.

Begun in 2000 by southern African diamond-producing countries, the Kimberley Process led to the adoption in November 2002 in Interlaken, Switzerland, of the international Certification Scheme for rough diamonds, based primarily on national certification schemes and on internationally agreed minimum standards.