International efforts to curb the illegal trade in diamonds, aimed at improving transparency in and regulation of the international diamond trade.
Supporting a mandatory global diamond labelling system in which all sales must be accompanied by verifiable documents declaring the origins and destination of diamonds.
Introducing national legislation to ensure that diamonds sold specify the country of origin.
Supporting capacity building measures so that source countries and their neighbours can better control the mining and export of diamonds.
A conference sponsored by the South African government in May 2000 of diamond producers, officials from the region and principal diamond consumer countries, reached agreement on a specific set of proposals. These included: a global certification scheme for diamonds, a code of conduct to govern practices in the industry and an independent monitoring scheme.
As principle consumers of diamonds, G8 countries have a responsibility and a moral imperative to help curb the illegal sale of diamonds from conflict zones. As influential and powerful states they can apply leverage to the many points at which the illegal trade diamonds occurs.