With his divisive and derisive comments concerning civil society at the recent Kimberley Process (KP) mid-year meeting, the 2016 Chair of the KP, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, helped to remind the world of the critical issues facing the diamond industry. Representing the United Arab Emirates, which has come under significant scrutiny from a number of NGOs for its practices as a diamond trading hub, the Chair chose to attack and try to undermine the Civil Society Coalition... [Today] a number of organizations inside the Coalition and outside the KP entirely...issued a joint statement in response. The statement rejects the approach of the 2016 KP Chair and reiterates that not only we will continue to work to stop conflict diamond trade, but we intend to work on a much broader array of issues affecting the diamond sector through other initiatives and standards that deal with concerns such as human rights, forced and child labor, and transparency.

[full statement signed by Amnesty Intl., Enough Project, Global Witness, Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association, Center for Natural Resource Governance, IPIS (International Peace Information Service), Groupe d’Appui aux Exploitants des Ressources Naturelles (GAERN), Centre National d’Appui au Développement et à la Participation Populaire (CENADEP), Réseau de Lutte contre la Faim (RELUFA), Centre du Commerce International pour le Développent (CECIDE), Groupe de Recherche et de Plaidoyer sur les Industries Extractives (GRPIE), Green Advocates Liberia, Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD), Partnership Africa Canada (PAC)