This year's Review, which included detailed investigative reports on more than a dozen diamond producing countries, says that the cost of the process collapse would be disastrous for an industry that benefits so many. "A criminalized diamond economy would re-emerge," said the group's executive director, Bernard Taylor. "And conflict diamonds could soon follow," he said. The problems can and must be fixed, Taylor added.
One of the problems at stake was that the Kimberely Process lacks accountability. The chairmanship rotates annually and problems shift from one "working group" to another. Debates on vital issues extend for years and "consensus" in the Kimberley Process means that everyone must agree -- and that a single dissenting government can block forward movement, Partnership Africa Canada concluded.
Weak monitoring translated into flagrant non compliance, such was the case in Cote d'Ivoire and Venezuela. "The tracking of diamonds was the main purpose of the Kimberley Process, to guarantee that they come from a known, clean source," the group stated. "But in two of Africa's largest diamond producers --Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo-- internal controls are still so weak after seven years that nobody can be certain where the diamonds they export really come from."
Partnership Africa Canada also cited that trade and production statistics from Lebanon, Guinea and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) raised serious questions, but no answers. The Kimberley Process still has not, as of this moment, addressed "smuggling, mismanagement and a government massacre of more than 200 diamond diggers in Zimbabwe," according to the group. "Denial and procrastination are the default positions."
Partnership Africa Canada is calling for "serious reform" during the November meeting of the Kimberley Process in Namibia, and for serious action on the scheme's many outstanding problems. Susanne Emond of Partnership Africa Canada said that the Kimberley Process is too important to fail, "and it is too important to too many countries, companies and people to be a sham. It does not need to be redesigned; its provisions need to be enforced."