Since the start of the Kimberley Process, members of the diamond trade have been adding a declaration to their sales documents, each time a transaction is finalized along the entire supply chain, from mine to retail. It’s become a customary act in our industry, but a massively important one, for it verifies to the next participant in the supply chain that the diamonds involved are compliant with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), and thus can be considered “conflict free” according to KP doctrine.
The World Diamond Council (WDC) has marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment by the United Nations of the International Day of Peace with the official public launch of its upgraded System of Warranties (SoW).
In an article published in the August edition of Rapaport Magazine and posted on August 25, 2021, on the publication’s website, entitled “Atrocities Haunt Zimbabwe’s Diamond Fields,” Farai Maguwu, a courageous civil society leader in Zimbabwe, who is the founding director of that country’s Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), writes of the plight of artisanal miners in the Marange diamond fields.
“In the not-too-distant future, there will be a difference between rough diamonds that can be guaranteed to have fulfilled the consumers’ demands and expectations, and other diamonds,” said Edward Asscher, President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), speaking today during the closing session of the 2021 Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP).
“Consumers today want to know about a diamond’s provenance. They want to be assured that the diamonds they are considering buying have made a positive impact on the world,” said Edward Asscher, speaking today during the opening of the 2021 Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP).