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Int’l team review Guyana to ensure ‘blood diamonds’ are not traded
A high level team from the Kimberly Process Certification is presently in Guyana assessing whether the country’s system is robust enough to ensure that illegal diamonds are not being traded.
Officials of the Kimberley Process Certification meeting with Government and other officials as part of a one-week assessment in the trading of diamonds.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, the team conducting the one week “Peer Review” exercise is to meet with regulators and stakeholders, particularly the diamond mining sub-sector.
The team consisting of Louis Perron of the Government of Canada, James Lombe of World Diamond Council, Paul Roberto Alves of Brazil, and Frisco McDonald of the US Embassy Georgetown held discussions with Minister Robert Persaud.
Also present at the meeting were Rickford Vieira, Commissioner of Guyana Geology and Mines Commission; Patrick Harding, President of the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners’ Association, and other stakeholders of the sector.
According to the Minister, the evaluation is timely, with Government anticipating a successful review of the systems in place for the production and trade of diamonds in Guyana. He was optimistic that the review will allow Guyana to be more compliant in the trade of diamonds.
He also pointed out that while diamond production is increasing steadily, there is an ongoing thrust for clean and responsible mining. This, he said, was evident in a recent assessment which indicated that there is a decline in deforestation on the account of new technology and more responsible and low-impact mining practices.
Diamond output for the period January–August 2014 has increased by 23.14 percent as compared to the same period last year.
According to Perron, Guyana has been receiving positive ratings and the ongoing review will only strengthen the current safeguards that Guyana already has in place. The review exercise will also serve as a learning experience for the team, he pointed out.
The review team will also be meeting with the Guyana Revenue Authority, Bank of Guyana and stakeholders such as the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association and Diamond Exporters, for the purpose of reviewing the processes by which diamonds are exported from Guyana that avoids them comingling with diamonds that may be fueling conflicts around the world, referred to as “blood diamonds”.
Further, the visiting team will engage miners in the field and will contribute to the worldwide best practices in the International Diamond Trade.
The Kimberly Process is a certification mechanism to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the world market. Guyana is a signatory to the scheme and as such diamonds exported from the country have certain requirements which must be satisfied to avoid them being associated with blood diamonds.
The Kimberly Process was implemented 11 years ago and a Peer Review of Guyana’s process was conducted in 2004. The review is considered one of the most robust processes by the Kimberly Scheme.
The Kimberley Process (KP) is open to all countries that are willing and able to implement its requirements. The KP has 54 participants, representing 81 countries, with the European Union and its member states counting as a single participant. KP members account for approximately 99.8% of the global production of rough diamonds.
There have been reports in the past of diamonds from Brazil and Venezuela entering Guyana’s system.
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