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Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandIndymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Lockdown Skeptics
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Major new Irish Exposé into Israeli Blood Diamond Industry, IPSC says: "reform the Kimberly Process"![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) today expressed its shock and dismay at revelations unearthed by Limerick-based researcher Seán Clinton in his recent exposé on the role of Israel in the global diamond industry. Mr. Clinton’s article, published last night on the respected Electronic Intifada website (http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11170.shtml), highlights how the industry deceives the public by playing up benefits accruing to poorer countries through the Kimberly Process – the stated aim of which is to eliminate ‘blood diamonds’ - while simultaneously hiding the fact that Israel, a state that has militarily occupied Palestine for more than 40 years, is the world’s biggest beneficiary of the diamond industry. What Mr. Clinton’s article reveals is the hypocrisy and doublespeak that lie at the heart of the Kimberly Process, which claims to be “a tracking system for the export and import of rough diamonds to prevent the exploitation of diamonds for illicit purposes such as war and inhumane acts”. Yet the Process only applies to “rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments”. This narrow definition of what constitutes a ‘conflict diamond’ lets states, such as Israel, that export polished diamonds and regularly commit war crimes completely off the hook and gives an utterly false impression to consumers that all Kimberly Process certified diamonds are ‘bloodless’. The article also reveals complicity with Israeli Apartheid at the highest levels of the World Diamond Council, as Israel currently chairs the Kimberly Process, while diamonds account for over 30% of Israel’s total manufacturing exports - worth nearly $20 billion in 2008. |
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