The Role of Diamonds in Fuelling Conflict : Breaking the Link Between the Illicit Transaction of Rough Diamonds and Armed Conflict as a Contribution to Prevention and Settlement of Conflicts

A/RES/71/277No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 30The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict, published in 2017.

What other versions does this mandate have?

21 versions · 2003–2026

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/252

2026A/RES/80/252The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict : breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflictsLatestCompare with previous version
2025A/RES/79/275The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict : breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflictsCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/78/270The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict : breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflictsCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/277The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict : breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflictsCompare with previous version
2021A/RES/75/261The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict : breaking the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict as a contribution to prevention and settlement of conflictsCompare with previous version

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What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Central African Republic Certificates of Origin Conflict Diamonds Regional Cooperation Sanctions Compliance Technical Cooperation

What does this mandate say?

41 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its strong and continuing support for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme1 and the Kimberley Process as a whole;

Recognizes that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme helps to ensure the effective implementation of relevant resolutions of the Security Council containing sanctions on the trade in conflict diamonds and contributes to the prevention of future conflicts fuelled by diamonds, and calls for the full implementation of existing Council measures targeting the illicit trade in rough diamonds, particularly conflict diamonds which play a role in fuelling conflict;

Also recognizes the important contributions that the international efforts to address the problem of conflict diamonds, including the Kimberley Process, have made to the settlement of conflicts and the consolidation of peace in Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone;

Notes the efforts to further strengthen implementation of the Kimberley Process, including efforts to continue to examine the application of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme requirements in cross-border Internet sales;

Also notes the decision of the General Council of the World Trade Organization of 15 May 2003 granting a waiver with respect to the measures taken to implement the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, effective from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2006, the decision of the General Council of 17 November 2006 granting an extension of the waiver until 31 December 2012, and the decision of the General Council of 11 December 2012 granting an extension of the waiver until 31 December 2018;

Takes note of the report of the Chair of the Kimberley Process submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 70/252,2 and congratulates the Participants, industry and observers involved in the Kimberley Process for contributing to the development, implementation and monitoring of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme;

Acknowledges the progress made by Kimberley Process working groups, Participants and observers during 2016 in fulfilling the objectives set by the Kimberley Process to strengthen implementation of the peer review system, increase the transparency and accuracy of statistics, promote research into the traceability of diamonds, promote inclusiveness by broadening the level of involvement by Governments, industry and civil society in the Kimberley Process, foster a sense of ownership by Participants and observers, improve information and communication flows and enhance the capacity of the Kimberley Process to respond to emerging challenges;

Notes that the annual reporting process on Kimberley Process Certification Scheme implementation is the main comprehensive and regular source of information on the implementation of the Kimberley Process provided by Participants, and calls upon Participants to submit consistent and substantive annual reports in order to conform to this requirement;

Expresses appreciation to Belarus, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Turkey and the United Republic of Tanzania for receiving review visits in 2016, and welcomes their commitment to continuously open their certification systems to reviews and improvements;

Acknowledges the expressions of interest to host review visits by Botswana, Brazil, Ghana, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mauritius, Namibia, Norway, Panama and Togo, and calls upon other Participants to continue to invite review visits and to participate actively under the Kimberley Process peer review system;

Also acknowledges the efforts of the Kimberley Process to strengthen implementation and enforcement and, in particular, to ensure the coordination of its actions in relation to the occurrence of fraudulent certificates, to apply vigilance and ensure the detection and reporting of shipments of suspicious origin and to facilitate the exchange of information in cases of infringement, and acknowledges with appreciation the increased level of collaboration among Participants and with the World Customs Organization in this matter;

Stresses that the widest possible participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is essential, encourages Participants to contribute to the work of the Kimberley Process by seeking membership, participating actively in the Certification Scheme and complying with its undertakings, and acknowledges the importance of the increased involvement of civil society organizations in the Kimberley Process;

Calls upon the Kimberley Process Participants to continue to articulate and improve rules and procedures to further enhance the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and notes with satisfaction the systematization of the work of the Kimberley Process with respect to developing transparent and uniform rules and procedures and improving the mechanism for consultations and coordination within the Kimberley Process;

Notes with appreciation the willingness of Kimberley Process Participants and observers to support and provide technical assistance to those Participants experiencing temporary difficulties in complying with the requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme;

Recognizes the importance of the Kimberley Process in promoting economic development, particularly in the artisanal and small-scale diamond mining sector, and encourages an increased focus on issues related to development, including through the work of the Diamond Development Initiative, within the framework of the Kimberley Process;

Welcomes the further steps taken by the Mano River Union countries, namely, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, to implement the regional approach initiative highlighted by the Security Council in its resolution 2153 (2014), in which the Council lifted the embargo on the export of rough diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire, and also welcomes the continuous support to the Mano River Union countries provided by the technical team of the Working Group on Monitoring and the Friends of the Mano River Union group, in particular ongoing efforts to formalize the role of the secretariat of the Mano River Union and involve other implementing partners and/or technical assistance providers;

Notes that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process in 2016 acknowledged the progress made by the Central African Republic with regard to the implementation of the administrative decision and operational framework for the resumption of exports of rough diamonds from that country, welcomed the decisions of the Kimberley Process monitoring team to declare the subprefectures of Berbérati, Boda, Carnot and Nola “compliant zones” and encouraged the Kimberley Process authorities of the Central African Republic to continue to implement both the administrative decision and the recommendations contained in the report of the Kimberley Process monitoring team on its field missions to Berbérati, Boda, Carnot, Gadzi and Nola in March and August 2016, to continue to implement enhanced vigilance measures and to ensure the traceability of rough diamonds from all four “compliant zones”;

Also notes that the plenary meeting took note of a recommendation from the Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic established pursuant to the Security Council in its resolution 2127 (2013), whose mandate had been extended by the Council in its resolution 2262 (2016), to the tripartite follow-up committee of the Central African Republic and the Kimberley Process monitoring team in order to ensure continued monitoring of the freedom of movement in all compliant zones, consistent with proposed benchmarks;

Further notes that the plenary meeting welcomed the resumption of the development assistance project of the United States of America in the Central African Republic aimed at enhancing the capacity of that country and assisting it with the implementation of the administrative decision and operational framework for the resumption of exports of rough diamonds, and notes that the plenary meeting encouraged other Participants and observers to consider providing complementary technical assistance;

Notes that the plenary meeting welcomed the initiative taken by the Central African Republic and its neighbouring Kimberley Process Participants, namely, Cameroon, the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to ensure cooperation on Kimberley Process Certification Scheme compliance issues with a regional dimension and encouraged the Central African Republic and the Kimberley Process monitoring team to continue to work closely together with relevant United Nations actors, notably the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic and the Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic, as well as the international community;

Expresses its appreciation to the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process for welcoming the resumption of participation by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the Kimberley Process, and notes that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela had committed to hosting a review visit no later than six months after the resumption of exports, in which Ukraine would be invited to participate, as agreed in the 2016 final communiqué of the plenary meeting;

Notes with satisfaction that the plenary meeting encouraged Gabon to invite, before the 2017 intersessional meeting, an expert mission to the country in order for it to begin its process of admission to the Kimberley Process;

Notes with appreciation the role played by the Kimberley Process Administrative Support Mechanism, hosted by the World Diamond Council in 2016;

Reaffirms the commitment of the Kimberley Process to continue dialogue on decision-making and on the definition of “conflict diamonds”, in accordance with the final communiqué of the plenary meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2013;

Also reaffirms the importance of the tripartite nature of the Kimberley Process, notes that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process noted that the Civil Society Coalition had decided not to attend Kimberley Process meetings in 2016 owing to a number of concerns and that the plenary expressed its desire for broad Civil Society Coalition participation in the future, welcomes in this regard that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process recognized the important work that civil society performed, expressed the intention to consider ways to support its robust participation and acknowledged the proposal of the 2016 Chair of the Kimberley Process to establish a multi-donor trust fund or similar mechanism acceptable to all Participants and observers, and welcomes the acknowledgement by the plenary that representatives of the following civil society organizations attended the plenary meeting as guests of the 2016 Chair:

Organisation centrafricaine pour le développement durable;

Mines arts et ressources centrafricaines;

Kimberley Process Follow-Up Committee in Berbérati;

Association des femmes centrafricaines pour le développement durable;

Good Governance Africa;

Notes that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process welcomed a proposal from the 2016 Chair of the Kimberley Process aimed at strengthening the structure of the Kimberley Process through the establishment of a Kimberley Process secretariat that could support the continuity and efficiency of the Kimberley Process, and stresses that the plenary meeting decided that the upcoming review cycle provided an opportunity to discuss means of improving the Kimberley Process;

Acknowledges that the above-mentioned proposal states that such a secretariat could potentially help to facilitate progress in advancing the goals and objectives of the Kimberley Process and, among other possibilities, serve as a sustained presence for maintaining contacts in countries of concern, support the Chair of the Kimberley Process in interactions with government officials and other stakeholders and assist the Kimberley Process with regard to Participants who had been suspended and were resuming participation in the Kimberley Process, and notes in that regard that the plenary meeting looked forward to possible future ways to enhance cooperation with the United Nations system;

Recognizes that the plenary meeting noted that, for those countries seeking greater confidence with respect to their rough diamonds being valued accurately, a consistent methodology, building on comprehensive training and technical assistance for government officials, would be beneficial;

Acknowledges that the plenary noted that, according to the Chair of the Kimberley Process and some Participants of the special forums on valuation hosted by the Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2016, such a methodology might comprise several elements to be used by Kimberley Process Participants, including using standardized preparation and sorting protocols for rough diamonds in preparation for valuation, drawing on contemporary transacted prices for comparable rough diamonds as much as possible and, where that was not possible, potentially developing a methodology that was based on deriving the value of rough diamonds from contemporary transactions, that was transparent in approach and objective and that drew upon industry practices, and notes in this regard that the World Diamond Council, as an observer, reiterated that all current and future discussions must observe competition and antitrust law;

Notes that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process requested that the subgroup on valuation of the Working Group of Diamond Experts invite the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to collaborate with the Kimberley Process to take this work forward, consistent with rules and procedures;

Welcomes the fact that the plenary meeting of the Kimberley Process noted the work of the committee on rules and procedures concerning the engagement of the Kimberley Process with external organizations and the committee’s expectation to continue further discussions on this issue;

Encourages further improvement in enforcement of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and notes the new efforts made to increase information-sharing and collaboration in enforcement;

Notes that the Working Group on Statistics of the Kimberley Process welcomed further discussions on the study of blockchain technology within the framework of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme;

Acknowledges with great appreciation the important contribution that the United Arab Emirates, as Chair of the Kimberley Process in 2016, has made towards curbing the trade in conflict diamonds, and welcomes the selection of Australia as the Chair of the Kimberley Process for 2017, the European Union as the Vice-Chair for 2017 and the Chair for 2018, and India as the incoming Vice-Chair for 2018 and the Chair for 2019;

Requests the Chair of the Kimberley Process to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session a report on the implementation of the Kimberley Process;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-second session the item entitled “The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict”.

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