Blood Diamonds: Human Rights Campaigners Want ‘Kimberley Process’ to Suspend Israel

Human rights groups called on the EU to seek the suspension of Israel from the Kimberley Process. (Photo: File)

Human Rights campaigners say that Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) must suspend Israel and ban Israeli diamonds exports.

A global coalition of organizations working for justice and peace in Palestine have called on the EU to seek the suspension of Israel from the Kimberley Process and a ban on Israel diamond exports at next week ’s meeting of the diamond regulatory body in Antwerp.

The KPCS is the process established in 2000 to prevent “conflict diamonds” from entering the mainstream rough diamond market by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 following recommendations in the Fowler Report.

The process was set up “to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments.”

In the wake of the latest Israeli massacres in Gaza, which Human Rights Watch said “may amount to war crimes” and called on the international community to “impose real costs for such blatant disregard for Palestinian lives” it is imperative that diamonds which generate revenue used to fund the Israeli military are banned.

Israel is the biggest net beneficiary of the global diamond trade with exports worth US$11 billion net in 2014 when diamonds accounted for 30% of manufacturing exports.

Revenue from the Israeli diamond industry is a highly significant source of funding for the Israeli government and its violent settler-colonial project in Palestine.

Despite generating an estimated $1 billion per year in funding for Israeli occupation forces which stand accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, the proliferation of unregulated nuclear weapons and the enforcement of a system of apartheid jewelers claim diamonds processed in Israel are conflict-free.

Diamonds that are a significant source of funding for violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law are regarded as blood diamonds.

The jewelry industry refuses to ban all blood diamonds and limited the remit of the KPCS to “conflict diamonds” which are defined as rough diamonds used by rebel groups to fund violence against legitimate governments.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)

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1 Comment

  1. Palestine is multi tasking & leaving no stone un turned. The most successful fisherman is the one who puts down the most lines with tasty alluring bait. PALESTINE U TAKE ON THE CHALLENGES WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF COURAGE, DETERMINATION & CREATIVITY. ISRAEL JUST DOES THE SAME PREDICTABLE TACTIC OF BORING EXPLOITATION & THUGGERY. THE WORLD KEEPS CHANGING & WE HAVE TO BE ADAPTABLE TO SURVIVE. GOD BLESS ALL PALESTINE PEOPLE.

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