The Kimberley Process Explained: How Conflict Diamonds Are Kept Out of the Market

When you purchase a certified loose diamond from a reputable dealer, you are buying a stone that has passed through one of the most comprehensive international certification systems ever created. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) — often simply called the Kimberley Process — is the global framework that ensures rough diamonds do not finance armed conflict. For anyone considering a diamond purchase, understanding how this system works is essential.

At Diamantwerp, every diamond we sell is 100% conflict-free and fully compliant with the Kimberley Process. Our office is located on Pelikaanstraat in Antwerp's diamond district — just metres from the Diamond Office, where every rough diamond entering or leaving Belgium is physically verified.

The Kimberley Process (KP) is a multilateral agreement between governments, the diamond industry, and civil society organisations. Its purpose is to prevent conflict diamonds — also known as blood diamonds — from entering the legitimate global diamond supply chain.

Established in 2003, the scheme takes its name from Kimberley, the South African city where concerned governments first met in May 2000 to address the role of rough diamonds in funding brutal civil wars across sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the KPCS has 59 participants representing 85 countries, with the European Union counting as a single participant — together accounting for approximately 99.8% of the world's rough diamond production.

Under the scheme, participating countries may only trade rough diamonds with other KP members, and every shipment must be accompanied by a KP Certificate — a government-issued document confirming the diamonds are conflict-free. Shipments without a valid certificate are refused entry at the border.

Blood diamonds — formally defined as rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance military action against legitimate governments — became a global crisis during the 1990s. In Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, diamond revenues funded some of the most brutal armed conflicts of the modern era.

In Sierra Leone alone, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) controlled diamond-rich regions and used the proceeds to finance a decade-long civil war marked by mass amputations and the use of child soldiers. Estimates suggest conflict diamonds represented up to 4% of global diamond production at the peak of the crisis.

The 2006 film Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, brought widespread public attention to the issue — generating consumer pressure that accelerated industry reform. By that point, the Kimberley Process had already been operating for three years, but the film permanently changed how buyers thought about diamond provenance.

The United Nations Security Council passed resolutions banning the import of rough diamonds from rebel-held territories in Angola (Resolution 1173, 1998) and Sierra Leone (Resolution 1306, 2000). These resolutions were the direct precursor to the Kimberley Process — it became clear that voluntary measures alone were insufficient, and that an internationally binding certification scheme was required.

Every shipment of rough diamonds traded between KP member countries must meet strict conditions. Each parcel must be transported in tamper-resistant containers and accompanied by a government-validated KP Certificate confirming the diamonds are conflict-free. The importing country's authority verifies the certificate before allowing entry, and all transactions are recorded in a central KP data system tracking volumes and values by country.

The certificate must include: country of origin, the issuing government authority, a unique serial number, total carat weight and value, and a declaration of KP compliance.

The KP operates on the principle of peer review. Each participating country produces statistics on rough diamond production, imports and exports. Countries where discrepancies arise are subject to review missions — on-site visits by KP teams who examine documentation, inspect facilities, and assess compliance.

Participants who fail to comply can be suspended, meaning no other member may trade rough diamonds with them. The Democratic Republic of Congo was suspended in 2004 over data irregularities. Venezuela was suspended in 2008.

Antwerp is the world's largest rough diamond trading hub, with approximately 86% of the world's rough diamonds passing through the city at some stage of their journey from mine to market. This makes Belgium's compliance infrastructure critically important to the entire Kimberley Process system.

The Diamond Office, located at Hoveniersstraat 22 in Antwerp's diamond district — fewer than 200 metres from our offices on Pelikaanstraat — is the Belgian federal body responsible for physically inspecting every rough diamond parcel entering or leaving Belgium. It operates under the authority of the Federal Public Service Economy and is one of the most rigorous rough diamond control centres in the world.

Every consignment passing through the Diamond Office is subject to a three-layer verification process:

• Physical inspection: parcels are opened and examined — not merely checked on paper
• Verification: weight and value are checked against the accompanying KP Certificate
• Recording: all data is entered into national statistics submitted annually to the KP
• Re-sealing: parcels are resealed and re-certified before onwards shipment

This is why Antwerp-sourced diamonds carry exceptional provenance credibility. The Diamond Office process is not a legal formality — it is a genuine physical gatekeeping procedure that takes place on every single parcel.

The Kimberley Process has been credited with reducing the share of conflict diamonds in the global market from an estimated 4% in the late 1990s to well under 1% today. That is a genuine achievement. But the scheme has attracted sustained criticism for what it does not cover.

• Polished diamonds are excluded: the KP only applies to rough diamonds. Once a diamond is cut and polished, it leaves the KP tracking system entirely.
• Government-controlled abuses: if a government — rather than a rebel group — uses diamond revenues for oppressive purposes, those stones technically qualify as conflict-free under the KP's narrow legal definition.
• Labour and environmental standards: the scheme makes no requirements about how miners are treated or how land is managed.
• Artisanal mining abuses: much of the documented exploitation of miners occurs in small-scale operations that are difficult to monitor through paper-based certification.

The most significant test of the system came in 2009, when diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields were found to be associated with military violence against artisanal miners. Human rights organisations — including Global Witness, which resigned from the KP in 2011 in protest — argued these diamonds should be banned from trading. The KP ultimately allowed them to continue.

This case exposed the limits of the scheme's narrow definition of "conflict" and is why responsible diamond retailers go beyond minimum KP compliance — requiring full chain-of-custody documentation and sourcing exclusively from dealers within tightly regulated markets such as Antwerp.

Every diamond in our collection enters the supply chain through the most tightly regulated rough diamond market in the world. In practical terms, this means:

• Every stone entered Belgium through the Diamond Office — physically opened, inspected, and KP-certified at Hoveniersstraat 22 before it reached any dealer
• Full traceability to country of origin — documentation exists at every stage of the supply chain
• Independent certification — every diamond carries a GIA, HRD Antwerp, or IGI certificate issued by a third-party laboratory with no commercial interest in the sale
• Exclusively sourced from Antwerp dealers — within the Diamond Office verification framework, not imported through less regulated markets

When you ask us about the provenance of a specific stone, we can provide documentation. This is not a marketing claim — it is a verifiable paper trail backed by Belgian federal inspection procedures that have been in place for decades.