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Marange, Chiadzwa and other diamond fields and the Kimberley Process - Index of articles
KP
Intersessional meeting ends with no resolution
Israel
Ministry of Industry Trade and Labour
June
24, 2010
The Intersessional
Meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP), presided over by Israel as
Chair of the KP, has concluded today June 24th. On the agenda of
the meeting were a number of initiatives relating to the on-going
work of the KP and to the consolidation of the process such as the
creation of an office for administration and support and the establishment
of a Working Group on Trade Facilitation. The center of attention,
however, was the KP minimum standards implementation in the Marange
diamond fields in Zimbabwe.
The meeting convened
in light of the second report of the KP monitor to Zimbabwe. In
question was the continued implementation of the Joint Work Plan
(JWP), agreed upon at the Plenary meeting in Swakopmund, Namibia
in November 2009. The meeting was clouded by the arrest of NGO activist
Farai Mguwu by the Zimbabwean authorities three weeks earlier and
the reports of his condition.
The Intersessional could
not reach consensus regarding the implementation of the JWP and
the work carried out by the KP Monitor to Marange. As such, the
meeting ended at an impasse. The KP Chair, Mr. Boaz Hirsch, declared
an impasse after night long discussions through the morning and
called for another a meeting to attempt to resolve the differences
followed by an extension to the Intersessional.
Mr. Hirsch, along with
the Chair of the Working-Group on Monitoring, Mr. Stéphane
Chardon and Mr. Eli Izhakoff, President of the World Diamond Council
(WDC), played a pivotal role in attempting to bridge the gap between
the sides. "This situation is unprecedented in the Kimberley
Process meeting," declared the Chair, "but all parties
are committed to further engagement. The KP is based on a partnership
between governments, the diamond industry and the civil society.
I am committed to that end and I have asked Mr. Izhakoff to jointly
convene within the WDC Annual Meeting coming July 14th-15th, in
St. Petersburg, a mini-summit of the KP major stakeholders. In the
meantime deliberations will continue in order to find a consensus
based resolution."
Israel will host the
Plenary meeting in Jerusalem between the 1st and 4th of November
of this year.
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