Civil society opening remarks at the 2025 KP Intersessional meeting in Dubai

Raising the bar: from celebrating best practices, to confronting shortcomings

The KP Chair has baptized the year 2025 as the year of “Best Practice” for the Kimberley Process. The Civil Society Coalition agrees with the necessity of better sharing and integrating lessons learned. However, as much as we encourage best practices, the Kimberley Process should be more ambitious than simply highlighting what it does well. It should stop turning a blind eye on abuses and bad practices, of which diamond mining-affected communities see too many. Best practices should set the bar. Living up to the best practices as listed in Frame 7 should be a minimal requirement, referred to in the conflict diamond definition, checked and acted upon in the peer review system.

The Civil Society Coalition constantly reports – most recently in its documentary “Beyond Shining Illusions” – that too many diamonds remain today tainted by violence, human rights abuses, and environmental harm. Testimonies by affected communities of violence by security forces, conflictual relations between artisanal miners and large-scale companies, and serious environmental impacts and pollution are quite telling.

To reorient exchanges on what truly matters, we invite all KP Participants and Observers to watch the documentary together this evening, and engage throughout the week, and beyond, in conversations on how to address the harm done by diamond mining to communities affected. Recognizing the shortcomings of the Kimberley Process is the first step to any progress, and incremental improvements outlast empty illusions or promises.

Facing the truth: ongoing human rights abuses demand urgent and serious KP reform

Last year, the Civil Society Coalition was drawn in by the KP Chair’s 2024 slogan of the “Year of Delivery”. The Coalition still expects the KP to deliver on reforms. This requires a renewed and collective effort as we enter the last year of the ongoing KP reform cycle. While it is fair to say that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme contributed to resolving some diamond-fueled conflicts in Africa in the past, diamond-related conflicts persist today in diverse forms. Therefore, redefining conflict diamonds is an absolute priority. It should include reference to widespread or systematic violence and serious violations of human rights, regardless of whether they are committed by rebel groups, criminals, mercenaries, terrorists, private or public security forces.

Beyond the embargo:  shared responsibility to address smuggling and violence in the Central African diamond sector

During the plenary last year, the Kimberley Process lifted its last embargo on Central African diamonds. The Civil Society Coalition welcomed that decision as the embargo ultimately did more to support smugglers than to protect the diamond mining communities it was meant to help. It will be important, during this KP intersessional, to know what has changed in the Central African Republic (CAR) diamond sector since the lifting of the embargo. We encourage this process to lead to open and solution-oriented discussions on the remaining challenges and the progress needed for artisanal miners and affected communities in CAR. The end of the embargo should not mark the end of responsibility for the Kimberley Process, the Central African Republic government, or the international diamond community to engage with the lasting issues of conflict, fraud, and poverty linked to CAR’s diamond sector, and open discussions are crucial.

No accountability without transparency and traceability

The transparency deficit in the Kimberley Process is a key concern of civil society. This is exacerbated by KP documents and reports being not or difficult to access. The confidentiality rules also obscure the dealings of the Kimberley Process and are an obstacle to accountability. The KP should draw lessons from other transparency and due diligence initiatives like the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the OECD where regular and transparent reporting are central principles. It can be argued that the KP’s failure to provide a forum for discussion and cooperation on pressing diamond-related trade issues has significantly contributed to the uncertainty currently pervading the diamond supply chain. G7 countries are now trying to act independently to advance traceability requirements in the diamond sector.

Consumers deserve to know what journey their natural diamond makes between the mine and the jewelry store, and the harm it may cause along the way. Mixing practices allowing stones from different origins to be packaged in “mixed origin” parcels effectively erases traceability. Moreover, traceability on a diamond’s journey ends halfway, when the stone is processed, cut, or polished. The recent agreement to allow trading countries to optionally list countries of origin on KP certificates, without requiring evidence or controls, still misleads consumers into believing their diamonds are responsibly sourced.

Improving traceability in the diamond supply chain should be the concern of all actors.

To conclude, allow me to dream of delivering closing remarks at this intersessional with an entirely different vocabulary and new hopeful messages for diamond-affected communities. To get there, the Kimberley Process has to shape a real due diligence system for the diamond sector, worthy of the name and filling today’s huge gap in the governance of diamonds.

Let us acknowledge the fact that the Kimberley Process requires significant overhaul to credibly uphold its mandate of fostering conflict prevention and sustainable development.

Jaff Bamenjo , KP CSC Coordinator

For more information, please contact: info@kpcivilsociety.org