DIAMOND TRADE

Early day motion 835, tabled 12 June 2000 by Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 53 members.

That this House is appalled at the destabilising effect the illicit diamond trade is causing across two-thirds of Africa; welcomes the UK Government's calls for a UN embargo on diamonds from Sierra Leone, but is concerned that further action must be taken in Liberia, the Ivory Coast and Guinea; calls on the Government to support an international, independently verifiable certification system; further calls on the Government to press the EU, UN and G8 to take action on the diamond trading centres of Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Bombay and Dubai for their failure to curtail the trade in conflict diamonds; recognises that a boycott of diamonds would cause significant loss of trade for legitimate African exporters such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa; and therefore calls on de Beers and all other diamond traders urgently to end the trade in conflict diamonds by supporting a system of independently verifiable certificates of origin and legislation on trade in rough diamonds thus ensuring that those who choose to buy diamonds can be certain they are not unwittingly funding brutal civil wars.

Signatures by party: Labour 31, Liberal Democrat 17, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 1, UUP 1.