diamonds

With up to half a million small-scale miners in West Africa digging up diamonds – which help fuel conflict but could also boost development in the region – a United Nations-backed ministerial conference in Monrovia, Liberia highlighted the problems of poor mining communities that often have no other source of income.

Concerned by the link between the illicit trade in rough diamonds and the fuelling of armed conflicts around the world, the United Nations Security Council today gave its backing to a global certification scheme for the precious stones.

Members of the Security Council today commended efforts by the Government of Sierra Leone to monitor the diamond trade through the creation of a mechanism to oversee and control domestic mining.

In a continuing bid to break the link between the illegal trade of rough diamonds and armed conflict, the United Nations General Assembly today urged countries to finalize an international certification scheme for the valuable gems and to implement the plan as quickly as possible.

Embargoed diamonds worth over $1 million are smuggled out of Angola each day, constituting an estimated 5 per cent of last year's world supply of rough gems, according to a just issued report by a United Nations panel monitoring Security Council sanctions against the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Members of the Security Council today welcomed progress achieved so far in stemming the illegal trade in diamonds from Sierra Leone, while stressing the importance of "rigorous implementation" by all States of the measures imposed by the Council to prohibit the import of all rough diamonds from the country.

Wrapping up a meeting today in Belgium, representatives of 38 governments have made significant strides towards creating a certification system to stop illegal trafficking of diamonds to fuel armed conflicts, in accordance with a United Nations resolution calling for solutions to the problem.