Communique of the KP Civil Society Coalition meeting in Brussels, 18-19 November 2011

You can download the pdf file here.

The Kimberley Process (KP) has thrown away its main point of leverage over the Zimbabwean government by allowing it to export diamonds from the controversial Marange region without first fulfilling previous commitments to reform its diamond trade, said the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition of NGOs today.
"The Kimberley Process has effectively given up on Zimbabwe," said Alfred Brownell, President of Green Advocates, Liberia. "KP member governments and the diamond industry seem ready to turn their back on the interests of Zimbabwe's citizens, the public good and the principles on which the Kimberley Process was founded."

As part of BICC´s engagement within the Kimberley Process, BICC, together with Heinrich Böll foundation organizes a round table discussion on the challenges arising from the situation in the Zimbabwean diamond sector.

See the invitation (pdf)

Today, the European Commission was to publish a new Communication challenges of future access to minerals and raw materials for its industry. The publication of the communication was surprisingly held back due to still ongoing negotiations among EU member states. The international campaign Fatal Transactions appeals to the European Commission to develop a strategy that will not be at the cost of the socio-economic development of raw materials exporting countries in Africa.

Download the full press release

Activist organisations today expressed a vote of no confidence in the Kimberley Process, and walked out of the scheme’s meeting in Kinshasa, in protest at its failure to address human rights abuses associated with the diamond trade.

On 7 to 8 December 2010, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS)/Fatal Transactions and the Sudan Council of Churches held the conference “Sudan's Oil Industry after the Referendum” in Juba, Southern Sudan. One month before the Referendum for self-determination of Southern Sudan, at the time when the Government of Southern Sudan was finalizing its future Petroleum Policy, this conference took place at a suitable moment and gave the opportunity of a public debate about oil among a large group of stakeholders.

The conference adopted a final declaration that summarized the main shared concerns of the participants.

In addition, ECOS/Fatal Transactions published two reports on Post-Referendum Arrangements for Sudan’s Oil Industry.

The Kimberley Process (KP) rough diamond certification scheme must reach a credible agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe regarding the export of stones from the controversial Marange region, the KP Civil Society Coalition said today.
The Kimberley Process annual plenary meeting in Jerusalem ended without agreement on Marange following four days of negotiations.

Ahead of upcoming presidential elections in 2011, Uche Igwe urges President Goodluck Jonathan to step up efforts to end oil theft in the Niger Delta. Uche Igwe is the Civil Society Liaison Officer at the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Africa Policy Scholar Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, USA.

In its submission, Fatal Transactions calls for coherence between EU development policy and the EU's need for undistorted access to raw materials in order to create win-win situations, referring to measures foreseen under the first of three pillars of the Raw Materials Initiative: (1) ensure access to raw materials from international markets under the same conditions as other industrial competitors.

The development of a concrete framework for how the trade dimension of the Raw Materials Initiative is to apply to developing countries should be treated as a priority. For that purpose, the European Commission should develop a more systematic approach, clearly defining the grounds on which the EU will refrain from imposing bans on restrictions on supply of raw materials. Dealing in raw materials sourced from parts of the world that are politically or economicaly unstable also implicates responsibilities and duties for the EU, which is not sufficiently reflected in the current version of the Raw Materials Initiative.

Fatal Transactions as part of a Civil society coalition has called for active measures to address oil spills and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, which has been engulfed by violent conflict over the past decade. BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster has heightened international concerns about the environmental dangers of offshore drilling around the world and led to President Obama declaring it America’s “environmental 9/11”. This oil spill has been correctly identified as a massive emergency and it is time to recognise that the ongoing oil spills, conflict and human rights abuses in the Niger Delta should also be acknowledged as an emergency demanding a concerted international response.