Clean Diamond Trade Act

CLEAN DIAMOND TRADE ACT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the Senate has taken up and will unanimously pass the Clean Diamonds Trade Act, H.R. 1584, the House companion to S. 760, which I have cosponsored. The bill implements U.S. participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an international arrangement to respond to the scourge of conflict diamonds.

In war-torn areas of Africa, rebels and human rights abusers, with the complicity of some governments, have exploited the diamond trade, particularly alluvial diamond fields, to fund their guerrilla wars, to murder, rape, and mutilate innocent civilians, and kidnap children for their forces. Al-Qaida terrorists and members of Hezbollah have also traded in conflict diamonds.

While the conflict diamond trade comprises anywhere from an estimated 3 to 15 percent of the legitimate diamond trade, it threatened to damage an entire industry that is important to the economies of many countries, and critical to a number of developing countries in Africa.

Governments, the international diamond industry, and non-governmental and religious organizations worked hard to address this complex issue, while setting an impressive example of public-private cooperation. For the last several years, the Kimberley Process participants have been working to design a new regimen to govern the trade in rough diamonds.

I introduced several bills on this subject over the last several years, along with Senator MIKE DEWINE and Senator RUSS FEINGOLD, to reflect the consensus that had developed between the religious and human rights community and the diamond industry on the U.S. response to this issue. Senator JUDD GREGG, who had introduced his own amendments and legislation dealing with this issue in the past, joined in cosponsoring our bill, as did a bipartisan group of 11 additional Senators.

In the House of Representatives over the last several years, former Representative Tony Hall and Representative Frank Wolf were leaders on this issue, as is Representative AMO HOUGHTON, who took the lead in introducing the House version of the bill this year.

In the bills I had sponsored in the past, my aim had been to push for the strongest possible international agreement—showing leadership in the United States and strong support in Congress for a meaningful certification and monitoring agreement. Now that an international agreement has been reached, many of my concerns have been addressed.
We have learned about the horror that has resulted when illicit diamonds fueled conflicts in Africa. Rebels from the Revolutionary United Front, RUF, funded by illegal diamonds and supported by Liberia terrorized the people of Sierra Leone—raping, murdering, and mutilating civilians, including children.

If the fragile peace in Sierra Leone is to be maintained, profits from that country's diamonds must not fall into the hands of such brutal rebels again. Anti-government rebels in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to fight and are also supported by the sale of illicit diamonds.

We have learned that members of the Al-Qaida network may have bought large quantities of these illegal conflict diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone in advance of September 11, anticipating that the United States would seek to cut off its sources of funds. An article in the Washington Post by Douglas Farah, on November 2, 2001, outlined the Al-Qaida connection and showed that Al-Qaida terrorists on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list bought conflict diamonds at below-market prices and sold them in Europe.

We have learned that the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, has participated in the conflict diamond trade and that it has been a source of funding and a way to launder funds for drug dealers and other criminals.

It is now clear that ending the trade in conflict diamonds is not only the just, right, and moral thing to do, it is also in our immediate national interest in our fight against terror.

If the crisis in Afghanistan has taught us anything, it must be that we ignore failed, lawless states at our peril.

American consumers who purchase diamonds for some happy milestone in their lives, such as an engagement, wedding, or anniversary, must be assured that they are buying a diamond from a legitimate, legal, and responsible source.

The Kimberley system will allow American consumers to have some confidence that they are buying "clean" diamonds, and will also serve our local jewelers and diamond retailers. The jewelers in our local malls and downtown shops do not want to support rebels and terrorists in Africa any more than consumers do.

I heard from a jeweler in my hometown of Springfield, IL, Bruce Lauer, president of the Illinois Jewelers Association, who wrote:

The use of diamond profits to fund warfare and atrocities in parts of Africa is abhorrent to all of us. .    .    . As the owner of Stout & Lauer Jewelers in Springfield, I know first-hand the importance of diamonds to my customers. A diamond is a very special purchase symbolizing love, commitment and joy. It should not be tarnished with doubt. .    .    . We want to be able to assure our customers unequivocally that the diamonds in our stores come from legitimate sources.

There are not many issues that can bring together Senators and Congressmen across the political spectrum; that can bring together the human rights community and the diamond industry; and that can unite leaders of every religious denomination.
The horror of what has happened to the people of Sierra Leone and especially to its children has brought us together to fight this evil by cutting off the rebel's source of support—the illicit diamond trade. Now it brings us together to fight the terrorists who have murdered our own citizens, in our own country.

The world was shocked and horrified by the murder, mutilation, and terror imposed on the people of Sierra Leone by rebels funded with conflict diamonds. The moral outcry by religious and human rights groups galvanized governments and the diamond industry to address the problem. Now is the time to close the deal and to implement the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.

I want to say how pleased I am that the Senate came to a consensus on this bill. I am especially grateful to Senator Grassley and his trade counsel, Everett Eissenstat, and to Senator Baucus and his trade counsel, Shara Aranoff, for their careful work in being sure that my concerns and those of other Senators and the Clean Diamonds Coalition were addressed in the bill.

I am pleased that my concerns were addressed about the possibility that the Kimberley system could be circumvented by cutting rough diamonds, by calling for a report that would flag such actions if it becomes a problem, so action can be taken.

It is very important that the United States move quickly to fulfill its promise to implement the Kimberley agreement, and this consensus bill will allow this country to do so in a timely way.