KP Attendees Show Commitment to Doing the Right Thing

Attending the Plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) for the first time last month, I was once again struck by the deep commitment and sense of doing the right thing that diamond industry and other representatives bring to these gatherings. It also reminded me of an article I wrote for IDEX several years ago where I spoke of the feeling, among many diamantaires, that these international meetings were a pleasant experience for those attending, and possibly little more than that.

"Who wouldn't like to be a top official at one of the diamond industry's international organizations," I wrote at the time. "Flying first class, nice hotels, fancy dinners, meeting ministers and presidents, giving speeches and receiving or giving awards. All dutifully reported by the diamond industry trade press.

"Well, the international meetings create awareness throughout the diamond industry and in the wider global press that members of the trade care about how and with whom they do business," I answered the question. "Closing our eyes to the horrors that can surround the diamond industry is impossible, and showing consumers that we care has been critical. The international meetings provide a wider perspective, enabling the diamond industry to reflect on its actions and to show end consumers that it cares about how it is perceived. And that, ultimately, is also vital for small and medium-size diamond businesses [who constitute the bulk of the trade] because the effect on consumers who buy because they see that we care eventually filters down to them as well."

And the Plenary meeting in Dubai showed the lengths people go to attend the meeting and provide a wide range of comments and input. Flying in from all across the world, diamond industry members were joined by representatives from the OECD and the European Union representing the 28 countries in that trading block as well as other organizations.

Of course, many of these people are employed to attend such meetings, but many others were taking vital time away from their businesses to show their devotion to advancing the work and operations of the diamond trade.

More than that was the incredible attention to detail as the many representatives, some 300, according to the organizers, hammered out the meeting's final communiqué on the last day. Clause by clause and sentence by sentence, all attendees were allowed to propose their changes. And, this being the Kimberley Process, they all had to be the subject of a consensus agreement.

It is a shame that diamond jewelry consumers cannot see at least part of these proceedings, perhaps that would put the nail into the coffin of detractors who claim that the natural mined diamond business is somehow dirty and unethical.

Arranging such international conferences, open to the media, for the most part, provide an insight into how deeply the industry cares about its reputation and ensuring that the end-buyer knows this. And it provides further evidence of how the natural mined diamond industry has come together in an exceptional manner over the past decade or so to let daylight into its operations.