Statement following the Kimberley Process Plenary on conflict diamonds

November 20, 2023 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement:

“On the Kimberley Process’s twentieth anniversary year, Canada, a founding member of the Kimberley Process, remains committed to this forum as a means of breaking the link between conflict and diamonds.”

“Canada is deeply concerned that the November 2023 Kimberley Process Plenary, held in Victoria Falls from November 6-10, 2023, was unable to discuss an issue at the core of its mandate – how the trade in rough diamonds fuels conflicts. Canada and several other Kimberley Process Participants, including Ukraine, have been calling for Russia’s use of rough diamonds to finance its illegal and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine to be addressed for the last two years, but Russia and a few of its allies continue to abuse the consensus mechanism to prevent this important work from moving forward. 

“We are disappointed that a communiqué was not adopted by consensus at the 2023 Plenary, and we will continue to stand by Ukraine in refusing to accept a text that did not reflect a balanced summary of the week’s proceedings. This undermines the multilateral body’s credibility by failing to publicly report its work in an objective and transparent manner.

“While no communiqué was adopted, Canada supports the other ongoing work within the Kimberley Process that was advanced during the 2023 Plenary, and will continue to advocate for reform within the Kimberley Process so that the forum can better meet its mandate, including by expanding the definition of “conflict diamond”, so that the Kimberley Process’s relevance and credibility as a conflict prevention mechanism is maintained.”