[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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