What Is the Kimberley Process?

In 2000, South African countries with a legitimate diamond trade began a campaign to track the origins of all rough diamonds, attempting to halt the movement of stones from conflict areas, where the sale of diamonds is used to fund the unlawful and illegal operations of rebel, military and terrorist groups. Their efforts eventually resulted in The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), an international effort to rid the world of conflict diamonds.

The goals of the process are to document and track all rough diamonds entering a participating country, with shippers placing stones in tamper-proof shipping crates and providing enough detailed information about their origins to prove they did not originate in a conflict zone.

The goals of the KPCS will take time to achieve, but what's already been accomplished is a beginning, and with more cooperation the program can have a huge impact on the trade of conflict diamonds.

See Also: Conflict Diamonds