‘Venezuela attacks PAC: inaction damages Kimberley Process: NGOs’ documents the violence and ineptitude that mark Venezuela’s diamond controls. In ‘Worries about illicit trade: KP effectiveness questioned’ a hot topic at the June Kimberley Process intersessional meeting in Brussels was Venezuela and its compliance with the KPCS. In ‘Freetown Verdict: first diamond war convictions’ the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone brought down its first verdicts in the war crimes trial that began more than three years ago. In ‘Taylor trial begins: war and crimes against humanity’ Taylor, who claims to be indigent, said that he had not been given the time or resources to prepare his case, and that because the trial is being held in The Hague, he did not have access to his family and visitors. He announced that he would not attend the trial until adequate facilities were provided, calling the process a “charade”. In ‘Liberia: UN diamond embargo lifted; joins KP’ the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to lift the embargo on Liberian diamond exports, imposed six and half years earlier. In ‘DDI: G8 endorsement; DDI appoints new board’ the DDI aims to gather all interested parties into a process that will address the political, social and economic challenges facing the artisanal diamond mining sector, in order to optimize the beneficial development impact of artisanal diamond mining to miners and their communities. ‘To Have and Have Not: New Global Witness Report’ says that despite their wealth in natural resources, many developing countries suffer from ever increasing poverty, serious environmental and social problems, and violent conflict. In ‘Côte d’Ivoire fighting continues: peace deal and amnesty not working’ despite a peace agreement and a wide ranging amnesty for government forces and those of the Forces Nouvelles rebels backdated to 2000, fighting continues in Côte d’Ivoire.
