There is something which is not beautiful about diamonds. Can anyone link the images of two crying Congolese children, flashed in newspapers recently, with diamonds?
They were fleeing one of the rebel attacks on government forces after getting separated from their mother.
The diamonds mined in Congo and neighbouring countries have both triggered and funded the conflicts, displacing nearly 200,000 people in Congo. The battle is mostly over control of the region's mineral wealth.
The 74 nations, including India, which are signatories to the Kimberley Peace Process, however, believe that much has changed. Under the Process, all diamonds are scanned and certified for their origins. If they are found to be coming from a country where diamonds are traded for funding conflicts, they are banned for trade. Such diamonds are also called 'blood diamonds'.
India has been part of this UN initiated certification system for over four years. Last month, in a resolution passed at its annual conference held in Delhi, the Kimberley Process, for the first time, released data on the diamonds certified in the last two years to make the trade and certification more transparent.
It is an initiative that needs co-operation from the industry. While the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council has been co-ordinating efforts in this regard, the cutting and polishing industry is still out of the radar.
Not surprisingly, India, with exports worth $13 billion last year, a workforce of one million and a share of 60 per cent in the world's polished diamond industry by value and 82 per cent by volume, is being targeted for criticism by various groups like Partnership Africa Canada for not doing enough to stop the entry of blood diamonds in this sector. The organisations want the cutting and polishing industry to adhere to the Kimberley Process and develop a research and monitoring capability to tackle the illicit flow of rough diamonds.
Partnership Africa Canada is of the view that the Kimberley Process completely ignores the diamond cutting and polishing industry, and that rough diamonds can bypass all the checks there.
India's commerce ministry has acknowledged the existence of fake Kimberley certification though it is yet to make its stand clear on the exposure of the cutting and polishing industry to blood diamonds.
The Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council says that these are accusations made out of envy. It says illegal trade is ruled out because diamonds have zero duty and therefore there is no need to hide them.
But this argument does not account for the fact that blood diamonds come dirt cheap and hence skirting certification could mean huge returns. In September this year, the police seized smuggled blood diamonds worth Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) from two foreigners in Surat, which is the hub of diamond cutting and polishing industry.
The commerce ministry advises need for caution saying that fake certification is a reality, but it also believes that the "envy" at India's huge diamond exports, and its bigger cutting and polishing industry, inspires much of the criticism.
Whatever be the truth, this year Congo rejoined the Kimberley Process after its government was able to establish that it controlled mining operations.
Official data always bring solace, though they may not be complete. An official dealing with the Kimberley Process in India provides some: The fears related to illegal trade are exaggerated as it comprises just 1 per cent of the global diamond trade.
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