The plenary assembly of the Kimberley Course of Certification Scheme (KPCS) is beneath means in Gaborone, Botswana, till Friday and it is anticipated to determine if Russian diamonds needs to be declared battle gems.

The Kimberley Course of unites administrations, civil societies, and business in decreasing the stream of battle diamonds – “tough diamonds used to finance wars in opposition to governments” – around the globe.

Russia is presently main an invasion of Ukraine and diamonds are a giant a part of the nation’s finances and economic system.

Fears are that diamond income is financing the conflict.

The entire ban on Russian gems could be a heavy blow for a rustic that is already buying and selling beneath the radar.

Outdoors Russia, Alrosa, one of many nation’s diamond producers, has operations in Zimbabwe, Angola, and Botswana. 

Alrosa can be negotiating with Sierra Leone for the opportunity of mining gems there.

America, a significant international marketplace for diamonds, banned Russian gems in April offering a significant enhance for diamond producers in Africa. 

In a press release, the Kimberly Course of Civic Society Coalition mentioned the KPCS was convening in Gaborone “amid rising concern concerning the scheme’s ineptitude to deal with the ever-evolving types of battle in diamond-producing and buying and selling”.

The coalition raised concern that communities throughout Africa with diamond deposits proceed to undergo the useful resource curse and the KPC was not addressing the difficulty adequately, twenty years after its formation.

“Because the KPCS celebrates its twentieth anniversary subsequent yr (2023), most diamond mining communities in Africa and the individuals of Ukraine can be counting misplaced human lives, environmental harm, and human rights violations brought on by diamond mines or by states whose budgets are closely funded from diamond manufacturing and commerce,” the coalition mentioned.

The coalition says the KPCS’s failures may be famous in ongoing complaints from communities akin to Maluti in Lesotho, marginalised affected Koidu property house owners in Sierra Leone, and communities dwelling alongside the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

The destiny of the Jagersfontein neighborhood in South Africa, the place burst tailings dams flooded and displaced communities, could also be much like that of many different diamond mining communities around the globe, notably in Africa, which produces nearly all of tough diamonds.

The plenary coincided with the Pure Diamond Summit in Gaborone.

Talking on the summit, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi mentioned, “To us as a rustic, diamonds are rather more than stunning, uncommon, and valuable items of stones. They’re the spine of our economic system.”

It has been a very good yr for Botswana.

The nation’s Debswana Diamond Firm owned by De Beers and the federal government of Botswana noticed a 37.5% hike in gross sales within the first 9 months of this yr, figures from the federal government present.