UN adopts resolution on 'blood diamonds'

The UN adopted a resolution on Wednesday on diamonds mined in war zones. The initiative comes in a context dominated by geopolitical tensions which endanger the Kimberley process.

This mechanism requires that diamonds be free of any link to conflict. Russia, however, accuses the West of wanting to put a stop to this mechanism.

"Unfortunately, driven by the notion of their own exceptionalism, representatives of Western countries have decided to sabotage a whole series of international cooperations in the global diamond sector to serve their own geopolitical interests. This is the third year in a row that the process "The Kimberley region is under unprecedented pressure from a select group of countries incapable of transforming the process into another instrument for exerting pressure on sovereign states," said Alexander Repkin, Russian Federation Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Eighty-two governments signed up to the process. Today, 99.8% of diamonds sold worldwide come from conflict-free sources.

"The reason we support this draft resolution is that it aims to combat insecurity fueled by conflict diamonds. We are convinced that this resolution is a necessary measure to promote state sovereignty, the eradication of poverty, conflict prevention and eliminating demand for conflict diamonds from legitimate trade, which are the main objectives of the Kimberley Process,'' said Hussein Athuman Kattanga, Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations .

Before this globally recognized certification system, blood diamonds represented up to 15% of the global diamond market, according to the United Nations.