Zimbabwe and Calls for Change Dominate KP Meeting Again

Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben Eliazer acknowledged that "certain challenges remain" for KP, calling on the delegates from more than 70 member countries for more comprehensive monitoring.

According to KP Chair Boaz Hirsch, the many challenges that KP faced in the past year prove that the process is resilient, adding that it needs to adapt to future challenges.

Underscoring the challenges Hirsch spoke of, World Diamond Council President Eli Izhakoff said that "2010 could have been the year when KP comes apart at the seams." Both were referring to the long and difficult discussions this year over Zimbabwe's exports and the review mission to the country. The mission had difficulties agreeing on the final draft of their report, most importantly, its recommendations. During the day it was not clear if the report was ready or not.

Izhakoff said that to succeed, the process needs to be inclusive, meaning have all countries in KP, "otherwise it will be rendered ineffective." He repeated his call for changing the requirement for unanimous votes to a "super majority," establishing a permanent secretariat and forming a working group on trade facilitation to troubleshoot small problems that currently have no simple and quick mechanism to resolve.

Global Witness co-founder Charmian Gooch said that human rights must be at the core of KP in order to gain credibility. Gooch voiced wider calls for the incorporation of human rights into the rough diamond monitoring system, however delegates are not expected to vote in favor of this. In private conversations during the coffee breaks, many said that the UN is the proper forum for investigating and acting on human rights violations. Further, most governments fear that adding a human rights component to KP may be used against them in the future.

Other topics on the agenda include selecting a vice-chair for 2011 that will chair KP in 2012, a post the U.S. is interested in.