A new generation of smugglers are using social media and encrypted apps to undermine the 2003 United Nations-backed Kimberley Process, designed to prevent “blood diamonds”, which are mined in war zones and used to fund violence, from entering the mainstream market. But the turn of the century brought profound change. Critics claimed that the Process’s definition of conflict diamonds is no longer adequate. Last December, Canadian NGO Impact left the Process, following founding member Global Witness, which quit in 2010. The process has been criticised for being too slow and bureaucratic, with some countries refusing to sign up until they had received a list of all their diamond exports.
A new generation of smugglers are using social media and encrypted apps to undermine the 2003 United Nations-backed Kimberley Process, designed to prevent “blood diamonds”, which are mined in war zones and used to fund violence, from entering the mainstream market. Critics claimed that the Process’s definition of conflict diamonds is no longer adequate. Last December, Canadian NGO Impact left the Process, following founding member Global Witness, which quit in 2010. The process has been criticised for being too slow and bureaucratic, with some countries refusing to sign up until they had received a list of all their diamond exports.