Ivory Coast Diamond Exports No Longer Banned

Reuters reported that yesterday, the UN Security Council partially eased a 2005 embargo on Ivory Coast. It also removed a ban on the country’s diamond exports; unfortunately, experts believe the ban has failed to impact illicit trafficking.

As quoted in the market news:

Ivory Coast received a clean bill of health in November from the Kimberley Process, the body tasked with preventing the sale of so-called ‘blood diamonds’ from fueling armed conflict.

But the U.N. reported to the Security Council this month ‘that the measures and restrictions imposed by the Security Council … still do not prevent the trafficking of Ivorian rough diamonds.

‘The group furthermore notes that, in spite of having identified violations of the diamond embargo in its public reports since 2006, the Ivorian authorities have made no progress in combating the smuggling of diamonds nor taken any concrete initiatives to date,’ according to the report.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.