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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:27 am
Time: 1:27 am
Results for conflict diamonds
8 results foundAuthor: Global Witness Title: Loupe Holes: Illicit Diamonds in the Kimberley Process Summary: The illicit trade in rough diamonds is one of the greatest threats facing the Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme. The KP was created to halt and prevent the trade in conflict diamonds that cost so many lives during the last two decades. This paper reviews the issues around illicit flows of rough diamonds, particularly in countries facing serious challenges in controlling the artisanal mining sector. It presents the results of a survey assessing how participant countries are enforcing KP controls and monitoring the dismond industry, and puts forward specific reommendations for changing the way the KP is managed and implemented. Details: Washington, DC: Global Witness Publishing; Ottawa, ONT: Partnership Africa Canada, 2008. 6p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2008 Country: Africa URL: Shelf Number: 118576 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsIllicit DiamondsIllicit Trade |
Author: Global Witness Title: Broken Vows: Exposing the 'Loupe' Holes in the Dismond Industry's Efforts to Prevent the Trade in Conflict Diamonds Summary: Major United States (US) and international retailers selling diamond jewellery are falling short on their promises to combat the trade in conflict diamonds. This report details the results of Global Witness' survey and investigations into the implementation of a system of self-regulation to support the Kimberley Process, an international governmental certification scheme aimed at preventing the trade in conflict diamonds. Details: Washington, DC: Global Witness, 2004. 34p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2004 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 119413 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsIllegal DiamondsIllegal Trade |
Author: Global Witness Title: Return of the Blood Diamond: The Deadly Race to Control Zimbabwe's New-Found Diamond Wealth Summary: Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF political and military elite are seeking to capture the country’s diamond wealth through a combination of state-sponsored violence and the legally questionable introduction of opaque joint-venture companies. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, set up to end the trade in conflict diamonds, has repeatedly failing to react effectively to the crisis. Details: Washington, DC: Global Witness, 2010. 23p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Zimbabwe URL: Shelf Number: 119414 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsIllegal Trade |
Author: The Green Political Foundation Title: Natural Resources and Conflict Summary: Hollywood depicted it in graphic fashion: the film “Blood Diamond” tells the story of the battle for control of the diamond mines in the West African country of Sierra Leone and its brutal consequences for its people. The diamond trade's role in financing the wars in Angola, Liberia and Sierra Leone led to international condemnation of the trade in “conflict diamonds" and the launch of the Kimberley Process. The links between conflict and the extraction of a given resource are not always so clear-cut, however, and a country's resource wealth does not necessarily lead to violent conflict, as the examples of Norway and Canada, but also Botswana and Chile show. Yet resource-rich countries do appear to be more susceptible to conflict than the resource-poor. This risk seems to be greatest when resource extraction accounts for a substantial proportion (around 30%) of GDP1: in other words, in countries which are largely dependent on the export of primary commodities such as metal ores, oil and gas. This does not apply to countries with major oil fields and a small population, such as Brunei, Dubai and Kuwait, which can use the substantial revenues generated by their oil exports to purchase social peace. Yet in most resource dependent economically poor countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, resource extraction is linked to conflict. So the question is this: which role do natural resources play in conflicts? Details: Berlin: The Green Political Foundation, Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://www.boell.de/downloads/Resources_and_Conflict.pdf Year: 0 Country: International URL: http://www.boell.de/downloads/Resources_and_Conflict.pdf Shelf Number: 123967 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsIllegal DiamondsIllegal Trade |
Author: Agger, Kasper Title: Behind the Headlines: Drivers of Violence in the Central African Republic Summary: The situation in the Central African Republic, or CAR, remains chaotic and violent with public lynchings and daily attacks terrorizing civilians across the country. The United Nations estimates that more than 1 million people - roughly one-quarter of the total population - have been displaced or fled the country. Thousands of people have been killed - at least 2,000 since December alone, although no one knows the exact figure, which is likely much higher. Despite having the largest number of peacekeepers ever deployed to the country, the violence in CAR continues unabated. At least 60 people were killed in the capital city of Bangui over a period of just 10 days in March. Armed groups in CAR are financing their activities in part with significant revenues from natural resources and looting. When the Seleka rebel alliance captured the capital in March 2013, heavily armed and well-trained wildlife poachers and mercenary fighters from Chad and Sudan - some of whom were members of the Sudanese government-supported Janjaweed militia-backed the group. Seleka rebels and foreign fighters have been plundering, looting, and smuggling diamonds and ivory to pay for arms, fuel, food, and soldiers. Meanwhile, Anti-Balaka militias have been looting and killing in Muslim communities and have taken control of diamond-rich areas in the western part of CAR. Seleka forces used violence and threats against local populations in CAR to extract diamond revenues through forced mining, theft, and cheap purchases from local traders. The diamonds were then sold to local traders or taken out of the country and sold to intermediaries, mainly in South Darfur, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC. CAR was suspended in May 2013 from the Kimberley Process, an international certification mechanism designed to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the international market. However, the diamond trade has continued in CAR and conflict diamonds are likely entering markets abroad. Other countries have pursued political and economic interests that have exacerbated violence in CAR and destabilized the country. Neighboring Chad and Sudan provided support to the Seleka with the goal of installing a cooperative government that could help protect Chadian oil interests and prevent CAR from becoming a safe haven for rebels that could potentially destabilize the two countries. South Africa deployed up to 400 soldiers to protect South African investments in the oil and diamond sectors when former President Francois Bozize was in office. South African soldiers fought to protect the Bozize government when Seleka fighters attacked Bangui, leading to the death of 13 South African soldiers. The Chadian and French governments, which also sent soldiers to CAR, did not intervene to save President Bozize, as they had done previously in his decade-long rule. They helped him to capture power in 2003 but gradually withdrew support when he favored South Africa and China for trade and military cooperation arrangements. Bozize's shift, and that of France and Chad, helped enable Seleka forces to capture power. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2014. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed May 17, 2014 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/CAR%20Report%20-%20Behind%20the%20Headlines%205.1.14.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central African Republic URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/CAR%20Report%20-%20Behind%20the%20Headlines%205.1.14.pdf Shelf Number: 132386 Keywords: Animal PoachingConflict DiamondsHomicidesLootingViolenceWildlife Crime |
Author: Southward, Fiona Title: Diamonds in the Central African Republic Summary: Since May 2013 the Central African Republic has been suspended from the Kimberly Process (KP) - a measure maintained by the mechanism's annual plenary in Guangzhou, China, this November. The CAR's transitional authorities have been seeking at least a partial lifting of this export ban so that the country might benefit from the much needed revenues its diamonds can generate. However, the authorities in this beleaguered state have thus far failed to secure control over both the security situation and the country's diamond trade: a recent UN expert report estimates that the CAR has lost US$24 million worth of diamonds to smuggling since May 2013. Indeed, IPIS' own investigations - the findings of which are outlined in a report released end November 2014 have found that large tracts of diamond producing areas in eastern CAR remain under ex-Seleka control, with stones continuing to access international markets. This IPIS Insight will elaborate on IPIS' findings in its recent report, Mapping Conflict Motives: the Central African Republic - the latest in our conflict mapping series. It gives some insight into the modes of exploitation used by armed groups in the CAR to profit from diamonds and the role these stones have played in the complex and shifting dynamics that characterise the on-going crisis, both in the east and west of the country. It will then briefly consider the KP's role in this context. Details: Antwerpen: IPIS, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: IPIS Insights: Accessed September 24, 2016 at: http://ipisresearch.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/20141222_Insight_diamonds1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central African Republic URL: http://ipisresearch.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/20141222_Insight_diamonds1.pdf Shelf Number: 146111 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsDiamondsNatural Resources |
Author: Obale, Offah Title: From Conflict to Illicit: Mapping the Diamond Trade from Central African Republic to Cameroon Summary: The Central African Republic (CAR) is the only source of traditionally defined conflict diamonds in the world today. Since May 2013, exports of its diamonds have been under international embargo by both the United Nations and the Kimberley Process (KP), the initiative that regulates the production and trade of rough diamonds. CAR was suspended from the KP after a March 2013 coup d'état that sparked widespread civil unrest in the country. The coup was the inevitable outcome of years of political instability forged by a coalition of rebel groups, known as Seleka, who attacked the government and incrementally seized territory, including the strategic diamond-mining town of Bria. On March 24, 2013 Séléka captured the capital city of Bangui and overthrew the government, initiating a bitter internal conflict that continues to fester to this day. The civil war and regime change forced the United Nations and the international community to impose economic sanctions on CAR. Not only were all diamond exports prohibited, the KP urged diamond-trading countries to exercise enhanced vigilance and ensure that diamonds produced in CAR were seized and not allowed to circulate in legitimate trade. While the ban on CAR’s exports was partially lifted in 2016 from regions deemed to be KP compliant, that has not stopped the flow of CAR's conflict diamonds to international markets—while it was under full embargo or regions still prevented from trading today. This report examines the smuggling of diamonds from the Central African Republic into Cameroon. Further, it focuses on the impact this illicit trade has on Cameroon’s internal controls as well as the broader integrity of the diamond supply chain. The report describes the methods used and the key actors involved in this illicit trade. It concludes that the KP and frontline countries like Cameroon need to do more to interrupt the illicit trade of conflict diamonds from CAR and support each other in taking action. Details: Ottawa: Partnership Africa Canada, 2016. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2016 at: http://pacweb.org/images/PUBLICATIONS/from-conflict-to-ilicit-eng-web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Africa URL: http://pacweb.org/images/PUBLICATIONS/from-conflict-to-ilicit-eng-web.pdf Shelf Number: 147323 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsConflict MineralsDiamondsIllegal TradeIllicit TradeSmuggling |
Author: Partnership Africa Canada Title: Fugitives and Phantoms: The Diamond Exporters of Brazil Summary: Brazil's diamond sector is in crisis. Three of the country's largest diamond producers and exporters have been arrested and are now facing an array of criminal charges. A joint task force of Brazil's Federal Police, Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and Internal Revenue Service have alleged that the three are behind a mega scheme for smuggling diamonds using fraudulent Kimberley Certificates. According to police, the smuggled diamonds come partly from domestic garimpeiro production, partly from Indian reserves where diamond mining is outlawed, and partly from Africa. The head of Brazil's National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) in Minas Gerais - responsible for issuing Kimberley Certificates - has also been arrested. He too, is facing charges, and has been fired from his post as Minas Gerais director. Diamond exports have been suspended while Brazil's Federal Police investigate the fraudulent export of nearly US$3 million dollars worth of diamonds by Hassan Ahmad, owner of a Belo Horizonte firm called Primeira Gema. This fraud, involving Brazil's Kimberley Certificate 64, was first uncovered by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) in May 2005. Within the National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM), a special committee has been charged with examining the circumstances of Certificate 64 and making a report on the fraud by the middle of March 2006. The US$ 3 million Certificate 64 fraud, however, is but the tip of the iceberg. Further investigation by PAC has uncovered a wealth of evidence proving that for diamond exports from Brazil, fraud is not the exception, but the norm. In this report, PAC reveals that the same never-worked mining claims listed as the source of the diamonds in the US$3 million Certificate 64 scam are also given as the front for the diamonds in other fraudulent exports of nearly equal value. Furthermore, according to the DNPM's own statistics, the garimpeiro who owns these claims is Brazil's 6th largest diamond producer, responsible for 8.14% of Brazil's production in 2004. PAC's research reveals that this miner - who never once in his life touched a shovel - has been dead since 2001. In other words, Brazil's 6th largest diamond producer is a ghost. Brazil's fourth largest diamond producer, PAC also reveals in this report, is an indigent vagrant from Sao Paulo. In 2004, this phantom drifter produced nearly US$3.5 million worth of diamonds, 16.37% of Brazilian production, all of it exported with government issued Kimberley Certificates, none of them worth the paper they were printed on. Brazil's second largest diamond producer is a company named S.L. Mineradora, Ltda. Its owner, Paulo Traven of Juina, Mato Grosso, recently surrendered to Brazil's Federal Police, after spending a week as a fugitive on the run. After spending five days in jail, he was released, facing a variety of charges related to the illegal export of diamonds. On the production side, PAC reveals that some 25% of Brazil's diamond production by value came from fraudulent sources, and left the country with fraudulent Kimberley Certificates. Another 19% came from a source - Paulo Traven - who is now under criminal investigation. According to the production statistics, then, nearly 44% of Brazil's diamond production came from fraudulent or deeply suspect sources. The export statistics tell a similar tale. In this report, PAC reveals that some 53% of Brazil's exports by value in 2004 were the work of one man with a history in the African diamond trade, Hassan Ahmad. PAC demonstrates that Ahmad was almost certainly the perpetrator of the fraud involving Certificate 64. He, too, recently surrendered to Federal Police after spending a week on the run. He, too, is facing charges. Given this, there is good reason to suspect the legitimacy of Ahmad's other diamond exports. The production statistics, the export numbers, and PAC's research all point to one conclusion: 50% of Brazil's diamond production comes from fraudulent or highly suspect sources; one in two Brazilian Kimberley Certificates is probably false. Half the country's diamond exports are the work of fraudsters, fugitives and phantoms. In this report, PAC makes a number of recommendations for short, medium, and long-term reform of Brazil's system of internal diamond controls. Details: Ottawa: Partnership Africa Canada, 2006. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Occasional Paper #3: Accessed August 5, 2017 at: http://www.shawnblore.com/Reports/FugitivesPhantoms.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.shawnblore.com/Reports/FugitivesPhantoms.pdf Shelf Number: 146745 Keywords: Conflict DiamondsIllegal TradeMining IndustrySmuggling |