Rough diamond import from Venezuela banned

NEW DELHI: India has banned import of rough diamonds from Venezuela after it pulled out of a UN approved system that ensures that "blood diamonds" extracted by human rights violations are not traded and used for financing the rebels' wars across the world.

The order to ban rough diamonds from Venezuela has been notified by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade in the Commerce Ministry.

"The import of rough diamond from Venezuela shall be prohibited in view of voluntary separation of Venezuela from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) and to cease certification for export of its diamonds," the DGFT said.
KPCS, established in 2000 with the backing of UN, is an international process designed to certify the origin of rough diamond from sources which are free of conflict.

It assures consumers that by purchasing KPCS certified diamonds they were neither financing rebels' war nor abetting the human rights abuse. The term "blood diamonds" has come to denote human rights violation in the mining and processing of the precious stone. India is a founder member of KPCS.