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The Kimberley Process represents a new method of international cooperation between subjects of international law. It was named by its creators as a process, setting it apart from international organizations, and leading too to its consideration as informal international law-making or soft law. In this study we shall analyze the extent to which the Kimberley Process falls into these categories. Our main task, however, is to compare it to formal international organizations, with a view to establishing whether what really has been created is an institutionalization process that is like an international organization, but with a different name. To do this, we will analyze with referenceto the Kimberley Process the various respective fields of international organizations, such as founding agreement, membership, structure, decision-making process and legal order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores market reactions to regulations that addressed the link between armed conflict and the diamond industry. The results show that several regulatory actions taken by the United Nations and the United States in the early 2000s corresponded with lower stock returns for diamond mining companies. Such effects are inconsistent with predictions made by some critics of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. On the other hand, stock returns for jewelry companies were abnormally negative for events that hurt the reputation of conflict-free production and trade regimes. The expansion of legal diamond markets also coincided with abnormally positive returns for jewelry companies, while new restrictions on market access coincided with abnormally negative returns. The results suggest that i) diamond trade regulations affected businesses in important and measurable ways, and ii) that similar regulations may have broader applicability in related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the history of the blood diamond trade in three African countries including Angola, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Topics discussed include civil wars in countries due to diamonds; the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) of the United Nation aimed to prevent "conflict diamonds" from entering the mainstream rough diamond markets; and implementation of the KPCS in Angola, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.

The article discusses the applications of a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for mapping informal diamond mining sites in Africa. Topics covered include details of the Kimberley Process (KP), an international initiative that aims to prevent the flow of conflict diamonds, some steps involved in the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), and several limitations of satellite imagery like atmospheric constraints, temporal resolutions, and spatial resolutions.

This study addresses compliance and business practices at the local level subsequent to the international adoption of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme by states and the adoption of the voluntary System of Warranties by the diamond industry. This paper also explores the distance between norm creation, norm sustainability and norm expansion. Interests of various stakeholders led to the creation of international norms, and evidence supports widespread compliance at the state level. Data gathered at the local level of retailer suggests, however, that the regulatory system is not leading to the education of consumers that potentially transforms beliefs. Central to understanding the challenge of deepening and broadening new global norms is exploring the distance between compliance within the regulatory regime and the awareness or change of beliefs of stakeholders. Recommendations include steps to make the process of bringing diamonds to market transparent and available to public scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the role of the EU in the negotiations of the Kimberley Process (KP) regarding the Marange diamonds from Zimbabwe. As these gems did not comply with the requirements of the KP, they were banned from trading in 2009. The subsequent discussions between proponents of a hard line towards Zimbabwe and advocates of a rapid readmission of these diamonds brought the KP on the brink of collapse and it was not before the end of 2011 that an EU-brokered compromise ended this crisis. At the same time these diamonds remained on the EU-sanctions list until 2013.The article explains how the EU tried to find a balance between its normative policies regarding human rights violations and being a 'force for good', and aimed to preserve the KP as a tool of 'effective multilateralism'. It argues that these two objectives are sometimes hard to reconcile in a multipolar world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global governance frameworks are innovative initiatives that respond to international norms and incorporate state and non-state actors in efforts to address particular governance challenges. The Kimberley Process is an important global governance framework that has evolved in concert with the anti-conflict diamond norm and seeks to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. The article examines the evolution of this global governance framework and anti-conflict diamond norm and emphasises the role of two middle powers – South Africa and Canada – in the Kimberley Process. It also analyses the cases of Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, and Zimbabwe in order to illustrate the type of governance challenges faced by the Kimberley Process. The article concludes with a policy-relevant discussion of the promise and limitations of global governance frameworks as well as cooperative and collaborative behaviour among middle powers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through a series of meetings and consultations over the past four years--known as the Kimberley Process--representatives from government, civil society and the diamond industry have devised a regulatory framework that aims to end the trade in conflict diamonds. This article assesses the accomplishments and challenges associated with the regulatory framework ranging from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) on the production and export of diamonds to the 'chain of warranties' upheld by diamond wholesalers and retailers. By tracing the evolution of conflict diamonds as a pressing human security concern in international politics, we demonstrate that the ongoing Kimberley Process represents an intriguing development in global governance and multi-track diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernd Schlenther, senior manager at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), analyses governance initiatives relating to illicit flows, taking into account the recent impact of measures to counter base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]