Kimberley Process Fails to Suspend Zimbabwe

The Kimberley Process did not remove Zimbabwe from the Process, despite evidence that large quantities of diamonds are smuggled out of the country, in contrast with the KP rules. The decision is surprising, especially after some of the evidence of Zimbabwe's transgressions were recently collected by a KP team, as reported by IDEX Online. The resolution was met with wide international criticism.

The KP did not suspend Zimbabwe because it failed to reach a consensus to do so among members at last week's Plenary meeting in Namibia. Instead, a joint action plan was agreed with the government of Zimbabwe to bring the country back into compliance.

This includes a KP-appointed monitor to verify all shipments of diamonds from the Marange diamond fields prior to export but does not address the wider context of non-compliance in Zimbabwe's KP system. There is no mention of the central role the Zimbabwean army continues to play in mining and smuggling, nor does it refer to past and ongoing human rights abuses, said member NGOs Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada in a statement.

"Governments' failure to suspend Zimbabwe points to fundamental weaknesses in the scheme's procedures and to a serious lack of political will to take decisive action when countries are not implementing minimum standards," said Annie Dunnebacke from Global Witness. Dunnebacke is referring to a by-law requirement that all decisions must be approved unanimously.

On Thursday, IDEX Online published excerpts from a disturbing final report by the Kimberley Process Review Mission to Zimbabwe. The report, submitted to the Plenary Meeting, expressed “concerns” with Zimbabwe’s compliance with KP’s minimum requirements and detailed violence, government and military involvement in smuggling and complicated oversight system. The review team recommended in its report to suspend the African country.

The proceedings included limited discussions about a UN report on diamond smuggling from Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and on the need to reform KP itself.

Namibia, which chaired the KP in the past year, was replaced by Israel. "We hope that the Israeli Chairmanship in 2010 will provide the leadership and direction that has been so conspicuously absent throughout this year," said Alfred Brownell from Green Advocates, Liberia.