The World Diamond Council (WDC), which  concluded its 14th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai, India this week, summed up the  discussions on key areas in a press note released yesterday.

The organisation noted that it had reached a consensus on “critical areas of reform for both the Kimberley Process and the WDC System of Warranties (SoW)”. 

At the AGM, resolutions for further improvement of a responsible supply chain and enhanced self-regulation exercise within the WDC SoW Guidelines were passed.

The WDC stated that its Board had constituted a strategic planning committee to develop a member’s toolkit “to help in the implementation of the guidelines respecting the realities and practicalities of the diamond supply chain”. 

“These guidelines will introduce the strongest level of adherence to date for SoW statement users, requiring adherence to universally accepted principles on human and labour rights, anti-corruption and anti-money laundering in support of mandatory Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) implementation and including the inclusion of OECD due diligence guidelines,” the organisation averred.

Changes will be implemented on an ongoing basis and will be included in the upcoming 2021-2025 WDC Strategic Plan.  

Reiterating their continued support to KP Reform, WDC Board members were also in agreement with pushing forward towards an “expanded definition” of conflict diamonds, which, they believed, should address human security and environmental concerns as well.    

Other KP reforms agreed upon were the setting up of a permanent secretariat; and strengthening of the peer review mechanism, both of which Administrative Decisions have been respectively submitted to the KP Chair for discussion and vote at the upcoming KP Plenary next month, WDC said. It added that Board members also agreed to support other KP reform items, such as the review of the Core document and multi-stakeholder fund which would focus on capacity building.

The WDC Board Meeting also included elections to various posts. While Edward Asscher was elected Vice President; Ronnie VanderLinden was re-elected Treasurer; and Udi Sheintal was re-appointed Secretary-General of the body.

 Stephane Fischler, President of the WDC, said, “This year’s session was important for many reasons, not the least of which is that our members truly embraced the spirit of collaboration and cooperation which accelerates our ability to drive important change within the industry and through our role as industry observers to the KP.  We are grateful to our hosts The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) for facilitating this year’s annual meeting and we look forward to the KP Plenary next month in Brussels where many of this year’s resolutions are expected to be confirmed.”