UN Renews Support for Kimberley Process
April 09, 24
(IDEX Online) - The United Nations has renewed its support for the Kimberley Process (KP), which has been outlawing blood diamonds since 2003.
Its General Assembly of 193 member nations adopted a resolution last Wednesday (3 April) without a vote, which recognized the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflicts.
A total of 121.5m carats were certified by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in 2022, with a value of $16.3bn, said Albert Chimbindi, UN ambassador for Zimbabwe, which chaired KP last year.
During 2022 "a total of 45,648 KP importation certificates were issued, as well as 46,089 exportation certificates, which clearly shows that the mechanism is working".
Botswana said around 99.8 per cent of the global production of rough diamonds is now conflict-free, due to the "relentless efforts" of the KP.
KP did, however, fail to make any headway at its last plenary meeting over calls by Ukraine to broaden the KP definition of conflict diamonds to include those funding the war by Russia.