When Ivory Coast diamonds were found to be leaking over the border into Ghana and sold by Ghanaians with Kimberley certificates earlier this year, the information came not from one of the Kimberley Process's periodic reviews, but from reports by activists and a UN review commission.
A report released in September by the US General Accounting Office found that the US systems for controlling diamond imports and exports were "vulnerable to illicit trade." The report said while diamonds arrived at ports with Kimberley Process certificates, officials did not periodically inspect the shipments to see that the contents matched the paperwork.
Over the years, rights groups say the Kimberley Process has seldom been the initiator of disciplinary action. But Izhakoff said credit should be given for the action that has been taken.
Even its critics acknowledge that the problems are minor in a generally successful program that has started to bring order to a previously unregulated industry. The group kicked out the DRC in 2004 because it couldn't account for exporting significantly more diamonds than it mined. And at a yearly meeting last month, the Kimberley Process told Ghana it had three months to clean up its diamond industry.
Partnership Africa Canada, which had been very critical of the Kimberley Process, said in a report last month that the group was taking the right steps toward reform and commended the World Diamond Council's request for government oversight of the industry as "a first in the annals of government-industry regulatory discourse."
With greater regulation, legal diamond exports have risen in most of the affected countries, bringing greater revenue to governments through taxation and partnerships.
Yet, there are countries that belong to the Kimberley Process whose governments are still aspiring to control the vast industry -- some with large untapped re-sources. In addition, only a small proportion of the diamonds mined in Africa are processed on the continent, meaning the skilled jobs and much of the earnings are elsewhere.
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