"Modern day blood diamonds still flow and KP undermines efforts to stem them, claims new report", 26 September 2019.

 A new report, Real Care is Rare. An On-The-Ground Perspective on Blood Diamonds and the Fifth ‘C’, highlights the existence of modern day blood diamonds due to ongoing ties between diamonds and brutal human rights abuse...the Kimberley Process only intervenes where rough diamonds are exploited by rebels to fight governments. This leaves diamonds tainted by other types of violence or conflict to flow onto the global market certified ‘conflict free’...

The cases spotlighted in the report include a failure to intervene where armed groups are exploiting diamonds without fighting governments; illegal military involvement in the diamond trade; and the perpetration of torture and killings against artisanal miners to clear diamond fields or secure industrial concessions...It also spotlights issues of serious environmental harm from industrial mining.

...many seasoned industry actors understand the reputational risks to the entire diamond sector if the [Kimberley Process] fails to modernize...the continuation of serious abuse where a forum like the [Kimberley Process] claims to unite stakeholders to help protect communities starts to raise credibility issues not just for the [Kimberley Process] but for the diamond sector as a whole...

November 2019 will see Kimberley Process delegates meet in New Delhi for their last chance to address these issues...Filip Reyniers of IPIS...said: “The [Kimberley Process] still seems to be struggling to find consensus. Despite strong civil society and even industry outcry over the last decade, some government representatives are demanding evidence of the need for a new definition of conflict diamonds. This new report should help to eliminate their doubts.”