The World Diamond Council cautioned the Kimberley Process and the Zimbabwe Government not to squander the opportunity created by the agreement of the Working Plan in November 2009 in a statement last Friday.

While the WDC acknowledged some progress has been made, they continue to regard these efforts as ongoing and call for both the Zimbabwe Government and the Kimberley Process to increase their efforts to show demonstrable progress.

The WDC reaffirmed its guidance to industry members to exercise extreme caution when buying rough diamonds on the market to ensure that, for the time being, they do not originate from Marange.

The WDC also called upon all participating Governments to adopt the proposal, forwarded by civil society, and supported by the diamond industry, to include wording related to human rights, in and around diamond mining activity, as part of the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

JCK