(IDEX Online News) – Non-governmental organizations confirmed to IDEX Online that all Civil Society members of Kimberley Process intend to boycott the KP Plenary session scheduled to be held in November. Expressing concerns about KP’s abilities, the NGOs, a founding group of the scheme, are threatening complete withdrawal from it.

 

Alan Martin of Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) said the Civil Society members, calling itself the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, have great reservations and recently wrote to KP Chair Mathieu Yamba, outlining its position.

 

The emailed letter noted:

“The Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition met in Johannesburg on August 29-30, 2011 to discuss our participation in the Kimberley Process and our work on the global diamond supply chain. We would like to share with you some of the key results of our discussions.

 

“The Civil Society Coalition has decided not to participate in the November 2011 KP Plenary session. This decision is based on several factors:

 

·         We have grave concerns about the ability of the Kimberley Process to respond effectively to situations where diamonds are fuelling armed violence and gross human rights violations.

·         We remain particularly concerned that this Plenary will likely end all meaningful oversight of Marange, despite ongoing and credible concerns about its compliance and cooperation with the KP in meeting minimum standards.”

·         We also note the reluctance within the KP to adopt the institutional reforms necessary to ensure robust and credible oversight of the rough diamond supply chain.

 

“Coalition members have considered a range of options with respect to their involvement with the Kimberley Process, including complete withdrawal from the scheme. We are developing an approach that will guide civil society engagement with the KP. We will circulate this plan in due course.

 

“Despite our absence from this KP Plenary, the Civil Society Coalition remains committed to supporting a diverse range of initiatives, both inside and outside of the Kimberley Process, that aim to improve the lives of people in diamond mining communities.”

 

Martin also responded to specific questions from IDEX Online.

 

On what action the Coalition wanted the KP to take regarding Zimbabwe, he observed, “The Coalition has been consistent and clear in what we would like to see with respect to Zimbabwe — to follow and meet commitments it has made in several agreements with the KP, most especially the Joint Work Plan agreed to by the Government of Zimbabwe in Swakopmund, Namibia in November 2009 and later in St. Petersburg in August 2010.

 

“Zimbabwe continues to have compliance issue on a number of fronts, including a massive smuggling problem that has infected Mozambique, South Africa, UAE and India. Rights violations, although down, remains a chronic problem; militarization and overzealous behavior by police is a constant concern; the government has done nothing to create, never mind implement, a small-scale mining model to de-criminalize artisanal mining (the cause of most of the violence).

 

“At a minimum we would like to see the KP and the Government of Zimbabwe admit there are ongoing compliance issues and work to resolving them. As it stands we remain concerned that Plenary will be an opportunity for the KP to find a face-saving compromise which lets Zimbabwe off the hook, removes Marange from the KP’s problem list, and do nothing to address the ongoing and credible concerns of non-compliance that remain. Some kind of exports-of-progress formula has remained in place to maintain oversight of progress, or lack thereof, in Marange.

 

“On how he thought pressure could be brought to bear to ensure Zimbabwe’s compliance, Martin said, “The KP (in its individual and collective parts) needs to take stock of the KP — what are the expectations of the KP, how important is it to them and their industry etc? As our email states, we will be debating this further in the coming weeks. Without prejudicing that outcome the coalition agrees that:

 

“The KP is a diminished vehicle to achieve many of the outcomes we would expect of a sustainably managed diamond supply chain.

 

“It can no longer meet its most basic promises, namely curtail diamond related violence or provide guarantees of a diamond’s provenance (i.e. country of origin).

 

“Going forward, we will be embracing a number of approaches to achieve the vision we have for the conflict free and diamond supply chain. This position will be distributed in the coming weeks after we convene another strategy meeting.”

 

“On whether the Civil Coalition had received support from any member governments, Martin noted, “We have received many responses of support from governments and individuals. However, this move was not taken with a consideration of winning support from anyone other than ourselves.”

 

Asked whether the Coalition has considered United Nations involvement in the Zimbabwe issue, he responded, “Lobbying the UN may be one avenue we pursue in the coming months. No decision has been taken on this, however.”

 

Finally, asked whether he thought the KP itself was a fundamentally flawed organization, Martin stated, “Yes, the KP is fundamentally flawed, as we have pointed out on numerous occasions (including in our email to Yamba). This is particularly the case with respect to accepting the changing realities of violence (all violence whether by rebels or state actors is unacceptable) and the lack of will to enact reforms that will make the KP a flexible, adaptable and responsive initiative.