The Kimberley Process Plenary Meeting which began today in Brussels, Belgium and is slated to end on November 16, 2018, will be witnessing some significant and crucial discussions.

The World Diamond Council (WDC), an industry group focused on preventing conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate global supply chain and protecting the value of natural diamonds, has announced prior to the meet that it intends to help push “for progress on proposed reforms to the Kimberley Process”.

“Specifically, the WDC is advocating for a broadening of the definition of conflict diamonds to address grave and systematic violence,” WDC outlined in its announcement statement. “It also seeks to establish a permanent secretariat and to strengthen the peer review mechanism, both of which are covered in Administrative Decisions that were submitted to the KP Chair for discussion and decision at the KP Plenary. The WDC also looks forward to a review of the KP Core document and supports the proposal to create a multi-stakeholder fund that will focus on capacity building.”

WDC President Stephane Fischler said: “This is our final KP meeting of the year and it marks an important milestone as we close the second of a three-year review cycle for the KPCS. I am encouraged so far by how members are embracing the spirit of collaboration and desire for reform. This makes it possible for us to remain singularly focused on driving meaningful change as part of the responsible sourcing commitment of the diamond industry. As an official industry observer in the KP, we are proud of our role in advocating and effecting change inside and outside of the process throughout the entire year. We look forward to continuing forward progress together.”

WDC executives have, over the past year, initiated and engaged in discussions with a number of governments and international bodies. The WDC recognises that one the most pressing needs is to have “a stronger and more diverse set of African nations engaged within the KP”.

The WDC is also enacting changes within the industry, starting with a revision and expansion of its System of Warranties (SoW). “The newly adopted SoW and its Guidelines support and build on the assurances provided by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) by requiring all buyers and sellers of diamonds to incorporate industry’s commitment to promotion of human and labour rights, anticorruption and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) practices,” WDC said.

The organisation noted that the new SoW Guidelines were unanimously adopted during the recently concluded WDC General Annual Meeting in Mumbai. Enhanced commitments within the new SoW will be implemented on an ongoing basis with the development of a dedicated toolkit, the organisation said.