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Press Release, ANTWERP: The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) wishes to clarify that its warning not to trade in conflict diamonds from Zimbabwe pertains in particular to diamonds originating from the Marange deposits. Comprehensive data, descriptions and photographs of rough diamonds mined at the Marange deposits have been widely circulated by the Kimberley Process working group of diamond experts, making identification of these illicit diamonds easier. The warning issued by the WFDB does not pertain to diamonds mined at the Murowa deposits, since the production from this source is in compliance with the Kimberly Process.
However, the WFDB wishes to reiterate that rough diamonds can only be traded when they are accompanied by KP certificates. “Any bourse member who trades in rough diamonds without KP certification is liable for expulsion from his bourse, which in all practical terms means the exclusion from the entire diamond business community,” Avi Paz, president of the WFDB, declared.
The original press release read as follows:
In reaction to numerous reports of violations of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in Zimbabwe, Avi Paz, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), has called on members of the 28 bourses affiliated with the WFDB to take all measures necessary to ensure that they do not trade, directly or indirectly, in diamonds originating from Zimbabwe. “The WFDB and its membership worldwide are committed to do all it can to prevent conflict diamonds from Zimbabwe, or from any other source for that matter, to be traded by our members,” Paz stated. “As founding members of the World Diamond Council (WDC) and as signatories to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, it is our duty to remind not only our own members but all those who operate in the diamond industry and trade of the devastating impact of conflicts fuelled by the trade in conflict diamonds on the peace, safety and security of people in affected countries, and the systematic and gross human rights violations that have been perpetrated in such conflicts,” he said.
“The WFDB and its member bourses have a cast-iron rule that rough diamonds can only be traded when they are accompanied by Kimberley Process certificates,” Paz stated. “Any bourse member who trades in rough diamonds without Kimberley Process certification is liable for expulsion from his bourse, which in all practical terms means the exclusion from the entire diamond business community,” Paz concluded
World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) | Pelikaanstraat 62 | Antwerp | 2018 | Belgium
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