Diamond watchdog split on definition of conflict gems that could implicate Russia

Rift threatens to render the Kimberley Process ineffective, as the certification group makes decisions by consensus

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  Russia's Alrosa gets its diamonds from permafrost abyssal holes dug using explosives in Yakutia, an isolated region in East Siberia. AFP

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  Russia - which invaded Ukraine four months ago - holds a 33 per cent stake in Alrosa. Reuters

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  Polished diamonds are pictured at the polishing affiliate of Russian diamond producer Alrosa in Moscow. Reuters

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  A 20.69-carat yellow diamond is pictured during an official presentation by diamond producer Alrosa in Moscow in 2019. Reuters

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  An Alrosa employee holds a 14.83-carat pink diamond during an official presentation in Moscow. Reuters

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  Russia's Alrosa gets most of its diamonds from Yakutia in East Siberia. AFP

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  A diamond cutter inspects a diamond at the Alrosa Diamond Cutting Division in Moscow in 2019. AFP

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  The Kimberley Process is a coalition of governments, the diamond industry and civil society representatives responsible for certifying diamonds as conflict-free. AFP

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  Civil society and some state participants are calling for the decision-making process to be reformed. AFP

Members of the Kimberley Process group, which certifies diamonds as conflict-free, remain divided on a push to expand its definition to exclude gems funding aggression by states.

KP met in Botswana this week, with the US, the EU, Australia, the UK, Japan, Canada, Switzerland and civil society groups supporting a Ukrainian push to discuss Russia's profits from diamond mining contributing to its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia — which invaded Ukraine four months ago — holds a 33 per cent stake in Alrosa, which accounted for about 30 per cent of the world's diamond output last year.

US sanctions on the company have already affected the industry, and large jewellery retailers have begun suspending sales of Russian diamonds.

“When you see Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel, all those atrocities I think they should think twice when they are buying diamonds that can be of origin of Russia, because they are basically sponsoring the killings,” Ukraine's ambassador to South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique, Liubov Abravitova told Reuters.

Ukraine has accused the Russian military of executing residents of Bucha, a town outside the capital Kyiv that Russian troops occupied for several weeks before withdrawing. Images of bodies lying in the streets drew widespread condemnation from the West.

Belarus, China, Central African Republic, Kyrgyzstan, and Mali explicitly backed Russia within the KP, while Angola signalled its support by leading applause after Russian delegates spoke, two sources at the meeting said.

Because it makes decisions by consensus, the rift over Russia risks rendering the KP ineffective.

Civil society and some state participants are calling for the decision-making process to be reformed, and the leading diamond industry group on Friday acknowledged the push for change.

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  Ukrainian servicemen in a shelter at the frontline near Kharkiv. AP

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  A Ukrainian and his puppy in the Donetsk region. AP

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  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, third left, is shown apartment buildings damaged by Russian shelling during his visit to Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

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  Rescue specialists work at the site of a destroyed residential building after blasts in Belgorod, Russia. Reuters

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  A woman lays flowers during a demonstration against the invasion of Ukraine in front of the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. EPA

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  A woman injured when her house was damaged by the Russian shelling sits in the yard of her house, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. AP

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  Local residents stand next to a damaged residential building in the town of Serhiivka, about 50 kilometres south-west of Odesa, Ukraine. AP

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  Viktor Shevchenko stands in a crater to show its depth after a Russian shelling in the Saltivka district in Kharkiv. AP

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  An image taken from a video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office purports to show the moment a missile struck the shopping mall in Kremenchuk. AP

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  People watch as smoke rises after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall, in Kremenchuk. AP

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  Firefighters clean the rubble of the destroyed Amstor shopping mall in Kremenchuk. EPA

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  A woman cries after the body of her husband, who was killed in the yard of an apartment building during shelling, was loaded into an ambulance in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP

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  Firefighters and rescue workers at the destroyed Amstor shopping mall. EPA

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  Rescuers work at the site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, in Kremenchuk. Reuters

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  A couple wounded by a Russian missile strike hold hands in a hospital, in Kremenchuk. Reuters

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  People wait to receive humanitarian aid in front of a residential building damaged during a Russian attack in Borodyanka, Ukraine. EPA

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  Ukrainian servicemen take a bus to their positions near Severodonetsk, in Luhansk area. EPA

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  A Ukrainian service member and a dog in the industrial area of the city of Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  A couple sits in front of a residential building that was damaged during a Russian attack, in Borodyanka. EPA

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  Local residents receive humanitarian aid in Borodyanka. EPA

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  A Ukrainian armed forces tank in Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  Ukrainian service members walk past a damaged car in Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  A giant Ukrainian flag is held up during the benefit concert 'Embrace Ukraine' on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The free event will raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine and the purchase of mobile X-ray equipment that the country needs. EPA

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  A fire from a gas processing plant continues to burn behind a field of wheat after it was hit by shelling a few days earlier in Andriivka, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters

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  An onlooker takes in the damage from overnight shelling on Kharkiv's Housing and Communal College. Reuters

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  A destroyed tank in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP

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  A man decorates a toy cabin for children made from used ammunition crates in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP

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  An internal view of the Housing and Communal College building damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv. EPA

“There seems to be strong support for further reforms, including that of the conflict diamond definition,” World Diamond Council president Edward Asscher said during the closing ceremony of the KP meeting in Kasane, north-eastern Botswana.

Consumers' growing demand for clarity on the origin of diamonds will likely put pressure on the KP to make reforms, Ms Abravitova said.

A three-yearly review of the KP certification scheme is due next year, and reforms will be discussed at the KP's plenary meeting set for November, Jacob Thamage of Botswana, the KP's current chair, said.

But civil society groups criticised the KP for failing to consider the status of Russian diamonds.

“The fact that the KP is unable to even discuss whether it should continue certifying Russian diamonds as conflict-free, reaffirms what we have been denouncing for years: That the world's conflict diamond scheme is no longer fit for purpose,” Michel Yoboue, co-ordinator of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, said in a speech at the gathering.

Neither Russia's KP envoy nor Alrosa immediately responded to a request for comment from Reuters.

Reuters contributed reporting