[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4643-S4645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Durbin, 
        Mr. Gregg, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Feingold, Ms. Snowe, Mr. 
        Rockfeller, Mr. Santorum, and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 780. A bill to implement effective measures to stop trade in 
conflict diamonds, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Clean 
Diamond Trade Act. Technically, this act will implement a certification 
process for imports of rough diamonds. But, as many of you know, this 
bill goes far beyond technicalities. This bill will help put an end to 
trade in conflict diamonds. As many of you know, conflict diamonds are 
diamonds mined and used by rebel movements in many African nations as a 
source of revenue to fuel armed conflict and the activities of rebel 
movements aimed at undermining or overthrowing legitimate governments 
in African countries. Millions of people have been driven from their 
homes by wars that have been fought for control of these diamonds. 
Families and entire countries have been torn apart.
  That is why it is vitally important that we pass this legislation. 
Passage of this legislation would be a true bipartisan success and a 
significant step forward in stopping trade in conflict diamonds. And I 
would like to thank my colleagues for helping to develop the compromise 
legislation in this Act. I would especially like to recognize the hard 
work of Senators Gregg, DeWine, Durbin, Bingaman, and Feingold, whose 
devotion and dedication to stopping trade in conflict diamonds is 
unsurpassed.
  Prior attempts to move similar bills have stalled in both the House 
and the Senate. As Chairman of the Finance Committee, I took great care 
to try and achieve the right balance so that we might implement a 
certification process that meets our international responsibilities, 
that can pass the House and the Senate, and most importantly, that 
works.
  The Clean Diamond Trade Act will implement the Kimberley Process 
Certification Scheme. This is an international agreement establishing 
minimal acceptable international standards

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for national certification schemes relating to cross-border trade in 
rough diamonds. It represents over two years of negotiations among more 
than 50 countries, human rights advocacy groups, the diamond industry 
and non-government organizations.
  The next plenary session of the Kimberley Process is scheduled to 
convene in Johannesburg, South Africa, from April 28 to the 30, 2003. 
The U.S. played a leadership role in crafting the Kimberley Process 
Certification Scheme, and it is critical that we implement the 
certification process before April 28 if we are to retain this 
leadership. We also need to do this to ensure that the flow of 
legitimate diamonds into and out of the United States will continue 
without interruption. Most important, we need to do everything we can 
to stop trade in conflict diamonds as soon as possible.
  Mr. President, we plan to mark-up this legislation in the Finance 
Committee tomorrow morning. I am confident the bill will receive strong 
bipartisan support in committee and am hopeful we can pass this bill by 
unanimous consent in the full Senate before we adjourn for the April 
recess. The people and countries in Africa affected by the damage of 
conflict diamonds deserve our support. Passing this bill is the right 
thing to do.
  Mr. DeWINE. Today, Mr. President, violent conflicts and other global 
threats and humanitarian concerns extend across many parts of our 
world. We are at war with Iraq. North Korea possesses nuclear weapons. 
HIV/AIDS is pandemic. And, terrorism threatens our daily lives.
  Our world is, indeed, a very dangerous and unstable place. We know 
this. And, while we are well aware of the many global ``hotspots''--the 
conflicts and the violence and the human suffering--there are parts of 
the world, which I believe, we have neglected. There are parts of the 
world, where human tragedy is the order of the day--where children are 
killed, where women are raped and beaten, and where people are 
routinely tortured--their bodies maimed and mutilated.
  One area of the world where such atrocities are occurring on a daily 
basis is in Sierra Leone, Africa. For at least a decade, Sierra Leone, 
one of the world's poorest nations, has been embroiled in civil war. 
Rebel groups--most notably, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)--have 
been fighting for years to overthrow the recognized government. In the 
process, violence has erupted as the rebels have fought to seize 
control of the country's profitable diamond fields, which in turn, 
helps finance their terrorist regime.
  Once in control of a diamond field, the rebels confiscate the 
diamonds and then launder them onto the legitimate market through other 
nearby nations, like Liberia. Known as ``conflict'' or ``blood'' 
diamonds, these gems are a very lucrative business for the rebel 
groups. In fact, over the past decade, the rebels have smuggled out of 
Africa approximately $10 billion dollars in these diamonds.
  It is nearly impossible to distinguish the illegally gathered 
diamonds from legitimate or ``clean'' stones. And so, regrettably and 
unwittingly, the United States--as the world's biggest buyer of 
diamonds--has contributed to the violence. Our nation accounted for 
more than half of the $57.5 billion in global retail diamond trade last 
year, and some estimates suggest that illegal diamonds from Africa 
account for as much as 15 percent of the overall diamond trade.
  Since the start of the rebel's quest for control of Sierra Leone's 
diamond supply, half of the nation's population of 4.5 million have 
left their homes, and at least a half-million have left the country. 
But, it is the children of Sierra Leone who are bearing the biggest 
brunt of the rebel insurgency. For over eight years, the RUF has 
conscripted children--children often as young as 7 or 8 years old--to 
be soldiers in their make-shift army. They have ripped at least 12,000 
children from their families.
  As a result of deliberate and systematic brutalization, child 
soldiers have become some of the most vicious--and effective--fighters 
within the rebel factions. The rebel army--child-soldiers included--has 
terrorized Sierra Leone's population, killing, abducting, raping, and 
hacking off the limbs of victims with their machetes. This chopping off 
of limbs is the RUF's trademark strategy. In Freetown, the surgeons are 
frantic. Scores of men, women, and children--their hands partly chopped 
off--have flooded the main hospital. Amputating as quickly as they can, 
doctors toss severed hands into a communal bucket.
  The RUF frequently and forcibly injects the children with cocaine in 
preparation for battle. In many cases, the rebels force the child-
soldiers at gunpoint to kill their own family members or neighbors and 
friends. Not only are these children traumatized by what they are 
forced to do, they also are afraid to be reunited with their families 
because of the possibility of retribution.
  Mr. President, I cannot understate nor can I fully describe the 
horrific abuses these children are suffering. The most vivid accounts 
come from the child-soldiers themselves. I'd like to read a few of 
their stories, taken from Amnesty International's 1998 report, ``Sierra 
Leone--A Year of Atrocities against Civilians.'' According to one 
child's recollection:

       Civilians were rounded up, in groups or in lines, and then 
     taken individually to a pounding block in the village where 
     their hands, arms, or legs were cut with a machete. In some 
     villages, after the civilians were rounded up, they were 
     stripped naked. Men were then ordered to rape members of 
     their own family. If they refused, their arms were cut off 
     and the women were raped by rebel forces, often in front of 
     their husbands . . . victims of these atrocities also 
     reported women and children being rounded up and locked into 
     houses which were then set [on fire].

  A young man from Lunsar, describing a rebel attack, said this:

       Ten people were captured by the rebels and they asked us to 
     form a [line]. My brother was removed from the [line], and 
     they killed him with a rifle, and they cut his head with a 
     knife. After this, they killed his pregnant wife. There was 
     an argument among the rebels about the sex of the baby she 
     was carrying, so they decided to open her stomach to see the 
     baby.

  According to Komba, a teenager:

       My legs were cut with blades and cocaine was rubbed in the 
     wounds. Afterwards, I felt like a big person. I saw the other 
     people like chickens and rats. I wanted to kill them.

  Rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual abuse of girls and 
women have been systematic, organized, and widespread. Many of those 
abducted have been forced to become the ``wives'' of combatants.
  According to Isatu, an abducted teenage girl:

       I did not want to go; I was forced to go. They killed a lot 
     of women who refused to go with them.

  She was forced to become the sexual partner of the combatant who 
captured her and is now the mother of their three-month-old baby:

       When they capture young girls, you belong to the soldier 
     who captured you. I was `married' to him.

  We are losing these children--an entire generation of children. If 
the situation does not improve, these kids have no future. But, as long 
as the rebel's diamond trade remains unchallenged, nothing will change.
  That is why I have been working with Senators Durbin, Feingold, and 
Gregg for over two years to pass legislation that would help stem this 
illegal trade in conflict diamonds. Together, we have worked 
extensively with our House colleagues, including my good friend and 
former colleague from Ohio, Tony Hall, and Frank Wolf from Virginia, to 
develop much needed legislation to help remove the rebel's market 
incentive.
  And, while we have not yet been successful in getting this 
legislation signed into law, I credit my colleagues' continued 
commitment to this often forgotten issue. I know our countless 
congressional hearings, meetings, letters and legislative initiatives 
have encouraged the Administration and the international community to 
keep this issue alive. We have kept the pressure on, and we are 
beginning to see some positive results.
  Mr. President, just this past January 1st, an international agreement 
called the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was launched. 
Specifically, this is a voluntary, international diamond certification 
system among over 50 participant countries, including all of the major 
diamond producing and trading countries. This is a positive step in the 
right direction, and I commend the tireless work of human rights

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advocates and the diamond industry for making this certification system 
a reality.
  Because of their success, Mr. President, today we are faced with the 
urgent need of providing legislative measures to enable effective U.S. 
implementation of the certification scheme. We need to provide the 
Administration with the authorization necessary to ensure U.S. 
compliance with this global, regulatory framework. That is why I am 
here today to introduce legislation that commits the United States to 
mandatory implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
  I join my distinguished colleagues, Senators Grassley, Durbin, 
Feingold, Bingaman, Talent, and Snowe, to introduce the ``Clean Diamond 
Trade Act.'' This legislation is very similar to a measure introduced 
in the House last week, H.R. 1415. Our bill is very simple. The whole 
idea behind it is to commit the United States to a system of controls 
on the export and import of diamonds, so that buyers can be certain 
that their purchases are not fueling the rebel campaign.
  Specifically, our legislation would prohibit the import of any rough 
diamond that has not been controlled through the Kimberley Process 
Certification Scheme. Put simply, this means that every diamond brought 
into the United States would require a certificate of origin and 
authenticity, indicating that a rebel or terrorist group has not 
laundered it onto the legitimate market.
  Additionally, the bill calls on the President to report annually to 
Congress on the control system's effectiveness and also requires the 
General Accounting Office to report on the law's effectiveness within 
two years of enactment.
  Finally, Mr. President, our bill emphasizes that the Kimberley 
Process Certification Scheme is an ongoing process and that our 
government should continue to work with the international community to 
strengthen the effectiveness of this global regulatory framework. As 
the world's biggest diamond customer--purchasing well over half of the 
world's diamonds--our nation has a moral responsibility to show 
continued leadership on this issue.
  Quite candidly, there are a lot of things in this world--a lot of 
terrible, tragic things--that we don't have the power to change or to 
fix. But today, we can change something. We can make a difference. We 
have the power to help put an end to the indescribable suffering and 
violence caused by diamond-related conflicts. We have that power, and 
we must use it. And so, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of 
this much-needed legislation.
  We have an obligation--a moral responsibility--to help stop the 
violence, the brutality, the needless killing and maiming. No other 
child should kill or be killed in diamond-related conflicts. I believe 
that it is absolutely imperative that we pass the bill we have 
introduced quickly and help end these atrocities once and for all.
  It is the humane thing to do. It is the right thing to do. It is the 
only thing to do.
  I thank the Chair and yield the Floor.

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