Guyana participating in meeting to discuss ‘conflict diamonds' ‘Paper trail crucial to process'

Guyana participating in meeting
to discuss ‘conflict diamonds'
‘Paper trail crucial to process'
- Acting GGMC Commissioner
Kaieteur News, 6 November 2007
Senior legal advisor to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC),
Attorney-at-Law, Rosemary Benjamin-Noble is attending the Kimberley
Process Certification Scheme's (KPCS) Annual Plenary Meeting which
begins today in Brussels .

GGMC Commissioner (ag), William Woolford told Kaieteur News that Ms.
Benjamin-Noble is the Commission's point person on the process, noting
that Guyana 's involvement is crucial in maintaining a good track
record of fighting the illegal diamond trade.

The KPCS is a process designed to certify the origin of diamonds from
sources which are free of conflict.

Acting Commissioner Woolford noted that Guyana as a signatory to the
Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).is working unremittingly
to ensure that the relevant “paper work” is in place to trace every
piece of diamond in Guyana.

The KPCS process was established in 2003 to prevent rebel groups and
their rivals from financing their war aims from diamond sales.

The certification scheme aims at preventing these ‘blood diamonds' from
entering the mainstream rough diamond market.

It was set up to try to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds
they were not financing war and human rights abuses.

Noting the seriousness of the KPCS, Woolford pointed to a recent case
where the GGMC confiscated some 4,000 carats of diamonds suspected to
have been smuggled into Guyana by Explorer Trade and Company Limited.

The GGMC is preparing to press charges, despite claims from the company
that the gems were extracted in Guyana and were in fact not smuggled.

The Acting Commissioner Woolford said that the GGMC must be able to
trace the origin of all diamonds being exported out of Guyana , and the
only way to verify this is through sufficient paperwork.

“The paperwork is vital because we check everyone in the claim at every
stage of production and this is what we have to ensure,” Woolford
stated.

Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), which has kept a sharp eye on the
KPCS, noted that some 20 per cent of the US$43M diamond production is
smuggled to Boa Vista in Brazil where they are mixed with Venezuelan
diamonds which are then cleared through the Kimberley Certification in
Guyana before they are exported.

The watchdog group noted that Guyana has good internal controls through
the GGMC.

KPCS is a joint government, international diamond industry and civil
society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds - rough
diamonds that are used by rebel movements to finance wars against
legitimate governments.

The trade in these illicit stones has contributed to devastating
conflicts in countries such as Angola , Cote d'Ivoire , the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone .

The Kimberley Process is composed of 45 Participants, including the
European Community. Kimberley Process Participants account for
approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds.