[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 58 (Thursday, April 10, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5112-S5113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CLEAN DIAMOND TRADE ACT
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
immediately proceed to the consideration of H.R. 1584, which is at the
desk.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 1584) to implement effective measures to stop
trade in conflict diamonds, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the
Clean Diamond Trade Act. Clean Diamond legislation passed unanimously
through the Finance Committee on April 2, by a voice vote. The bill we
are taking up today is nearly identical to the bill that passed the
House of Representatives on April 8, 2003, by a vote of 419 to 2.
Today, with the passage of this bill, the Senate is taking a step
toward bringing our Nation into compliance with our responsibilities as
a participating Nation in the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme.
Passage of this legislation is a true bipartisan success and a
significant step forward in stopping trade in conflict diamonds. 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.
The Clean Diamond Trade Act will implement the Kimberley Process
Certification Scheme. This is an international agreement establishing
minimal acceptable international standards for national certification
schemes relating to cross-border trade in rough diamonds. It represents
over 2 years of negotiations among more than 50 countries, human rights
advocacy groups, the diamond industry and nongovernment organizations.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme will help end the trade in
conflict diamonds, which has been fueling conflicts in some African
countries for many years, leading to human rights atrocities that are
beyond anything we in America have ever experienced. I am pleased that
we can help put an end to these atrocities with this legislation.
The next plenary session of the Kimberley Process is scheduled to
convene in Johannesburg, South Africa, from April 28 to 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.
This is a trade issue, a consumer issue, and most of all, a human
rights issue. Legitimate trade can elevate the standard of living for
people all over. This bill sends a strong message that the benefits of
trade in valuable natural resources like diamonds should accrue to the
legitimate governments and their people in Africa.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of my
staff whose hard work helped to get us to this point. First and
foremost, my Finance Committee staff led by Kolan Davis, my Chief Trade
Counsel Everett Eissenstat, along with Carrie Clark, Zach Paulsen and
Nova Daly. And I would like to acknowledge Senator Baucus's staff Tim
Punke and Shara Aranoff for their help in getting this
[[Page S5113]]
bill through the Finance Committee and to the Senate floor. I hope this
bill will receive wide support.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the Senate has taken up and will
unanimously pass the Clean Diamonds Trade Act, H.R. 1584, the House
companion to S. 760, which I have cosponsored. The bill implements U.S.
participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an
international arrangement to respond to the scourge of conflict
diamonds.
In war-torn areas of Africa, rebels and human rights abusers, with
the complicity of some governments, have exploited the diamond trade,
particularly alluvial diamond fields, to fund their guerrilla wars, to
murder, rape, and mutilate innocent civilians, and kidnap children for
their forces. Al-Qaida terrorists and members of Hezbollah have also
traded in conflict diamonds.
While the conflict diamond trade comprises anywhere from an estimated
3 to 15 percent of the legitimate diamond trade, it threatened to
damage an entire industry that is important to the economies of many
countries, and critical to a number of developing countries in Africa.
Governments, the international diamond industry, and non-governmental
and religious organizations worked hard to address this complex issue,
while setting an impressive example of public-private cooperation. For
the last several years, the Kimberley Process participants have been
working to design a new regimen to govern the trade in rough diamonds.
I introduced several bills on this subject over the last several
years, along with Senator Mike DeWine and Senator Russ Feingold, to
reflect the consensus that had developed between the religious and
human rights community and the diamond industry on the U.S. response to
this issue. Senator Judd Gregg, who had introduced his own amendments
and legislation dealing with this issue in the past, joined in
cosponsoring our bill, as did a bipartisan group of 11 additional
Senators.
In the House of Representatives over the last several years, former
Representative Tony Hall and Representative Frank Wolf were leaders on
this issue, as is Representative Amo Houghton, who took the lead in
introducing the House version of the bill this year.
In the bills I had sponsored in the past, my aim had been to push for
the strongest possible international agreement--showing leadership in
the United States and strong support in Congress for a meaningful
certification and monitoring agreement. Now that an international
agreement has been reached, many of my concerns have been addressed.
We have learned about the horror that has resulted when illicit
diamonds fueled conflicts in Africa. Rebels from the Revolutionary
United Front, RUF, funded by illegal diamonds and supported by Liberia
terrorized the people of Sierra Leone--raping, murdering, and
mutilating civilians, including children.
If the fragile peace in Sierra Leone is to be maintained, profits
from that country's diamonds must not fall into the hands of such
brutal rebels again. Anti-government rebels in Angola and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to fight and are also
supported by the sale of illicit diamonds.
We have learned that members of the Al-Qaida network may have bought
large quantities of these illegal conflict diamonds from rebels in
Sierra Leone in advance of September 11, anticipating that the United
States would seek to cut off its sources of funds. An article in the
Washington Post by Douglas Farah, on November 2, 2001, outlined the Al-
Qaida connection and showed that Al-Qaida terrorists on the FBI's
``Most Wanted'' list bought conflict diamonds at below-market prices
and sold them in Europe.
We have learned that the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, has
participated in the conflict diamond trade and that it has been a
source of funding and a way to launder funds for drug dealers and other
criminals.
It is now clear that ending the trade in conflict diamonds is not
only the just, right, and moral thing to do, it is also in our
immediate national interest in our fight against terror.
If the crisis in Afghanistan has taught us anything, it must be that
we ignore failed, lawless states at our peril.
American consumers who purchase diamonds for some happy milestone in
their lives, such as an engagement, wedding, or anniversary, must be
assured that they are buying a diamond from a legitimate, legal, and
responsible source.
The Kimberley system will allow American consumers to have some
confidence that they are buying ``clean'' diamonds, and will also serve
our local jewelers and diamond retailers. The jewelers in our local
malls and downtown shops do not want to support rebels and terrorists
in Africa any more than consumers do.
I heard from a jeweler in my hometown of Springfield, IL, Bruce
Lauer, president of the Illinois Jewelers Association, who wrote:
The use of diamond profits to fund warfare and atrocities
in parts of Africa is abhorrent to all of us. . . . As the
owner of Stout & Lauer Jewelers in Springfield, I know first-
hand the importance of diamonds to my customers. A diamond is
a very special purchase symbolizing love, commitment and joy.
It should not be tarnished with doubt. . . . We want to be
able to assure our customers unequivocally that the diamonds
in our stores come from legitimate sources.
There are not many issues that can bring together Senators and
Congressmen across the political spectrum; that can bring together the
human rights community and the diamond industry; and that can unite
leaders of every religious denomination.
The horror of what has happened to the people of Sierra Leone and
especially to its children has brought us together to fight this evil
by cutting off the rebel's source of support--the illicit diamond
trade. Now it brings us together to fight the terrorists who have
murdered our own citizens, in our own country.
The world was shocked and horrified by the murder, mutilation, and
terror imposed on the people of Sierra Leone by rebels funded with
conflict diamonds. The moral outcry by religious and human rights
groups galvanized governments and the diamond industry to address the
problem. Now is the time to close the deal and to implement the
Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
I want to say how pleased I am that the Senate came to a consensus on
this bill. I am especially grateful to Senator Grassley and his trade
counsel, Everett Eissenstat, and to Senator Baucus and his trade
counsel, Shara Aranoff, for their careful work in being sure that my
concerns and those of other Senators and the Clean Diamonds Coalition
were addressed in the bill.
I am pleased that my concerns were addressed about the possibility
that the Kimberley system could be circumvented by cutting rough
diamonds, by calling for a report that would flag such actions if it
becomes a problem, so action can be taken.
It is very important that the United States move quickly to fulfill
its promise to implement the Kimberley agreement, and this consensus
bill will allow this country to do so in a timely way.
Amendment No. 529
Mr. HATCH. I ask unanimous consent that the Grassley substitute be
agreed to, that the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed,
the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any
statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(The text of the amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text
of Amendments.'')
The amendment (No. 529) was agreed to.
The bill (H.R. 1584), as amended, was read the third time and passed.
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